


The Village in the Forest

by jongkey_krisho



Category: CROSS GENE, EXO (Band), GOT7, Monsta X (Band), NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), Stray Kids (Band), VIXX, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst, Flashbacks, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Smut, Some difficult topics regarding abo, Uprising AU, Violence, nontraditional abo, relationships and characters all tie together, will add tags once certain chapters are released
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-10 04:01:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 68,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongkey_krisho/pseuds/jongkey_krisho
Summary: 17 years ago, a person from higher power ran away with their lover to a secluded village, deep in the crevices in the woods. Now, their son and his generation of the alphas and omegas in the village have to fight for the rights while dealing with the outside world, one that they had never been exposed to.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Cha Hakyeon | N/Jung Taekwoon | Leo, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Mark Tuan/Jackson Wang, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Qian Kun/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Son Hyunwoo | Shownu/Yoo Kihyun, Terada Takuya/Shin Wonho
Comments: 29
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

The warm season was finally making its entrance, letting the group of alpha males rough play freely without any worries or complaints. 

The group, a small amount of six, had been playing with a thick ball that one of their omega’s mother made. They split into teams and were now dodging and attacking one another for the ball. In order to win a point, they had to take the ball to their team’s meeting point: Team A’s was the well by Qian Kun’s hut, and for Team B, it was the local storage area for fish nets, right at the Common Square in the village. 

Yifan was in Team A, so every time he had the ball in hand, the only thing on his mind was the well as he sprinted away from his opponents and tried to land the point. 

He was one of the stronger alphas, mainly because he was the leading chief’s son, and everyone in his family had always had the good genes. It explained why he was so well in the game; the third time he bought the ball to the well, he would cheer with his two other teammates while the other three pretended to sob and act dramatic as usual. 

The six of them started to laugh it off, however, when Chanyeol threw the ball and it hit both Jungkook and Johnny in the face. That was the highlight of the moment, the funniest thing that had happened all day. Well, except when Seunghyun fell onto a pile of baskets earlier. That shit was  _ hilarious _ .

The laughter died down, however, when old man Kun (not really old, Yifan thought – the alpha was around 27 or something, but he has always remained single as far as he could remember) came outside with a bucket. “I don’t understand how you guys can find my well entertaining.” 

“Your generation doesn’t get humor,” Jungkook teased, ignoring Kun’s eyeroll. “No wonder you guys are so boring."

“I’m pretty sure we are in the same generation,” Kun explained. “I’m not even a decade older than you. You’re, what, 21?”

“Nah, that’s his IQ,” Johnny replied, causing the five of them to laugh, Jungkook not saying a word but was now trying to choke Johnny from behind, causing the others to laugh some more. Now they were chanting the word fight, with Shownu claiming to collect the wager money.

Just a normal day of alphas wrecking innocent havoc. To Yifan, these days were always the most fun. His dad always had him do useless stuff, or maybe he would be stuck indoors, but the days that he and his friends could act stupid. 

When Shownu whined that he only had five gold pieces, the boy’s ruckus came to a halt when one of the council members, Hyunsuk, came into appearance.

The alphas didn’t even know he was there until he cleared his throat, turning the attention onto him. Johnny and Jungkook had to release their death grips from each other, and Shownu snuck the five gold pieces that Chanyeol and Seunghyun had given him. 

“I see you guys have been busy,” Hyunsuk replied. “I didn’t know this is what young alphas did these days.”

“What are we supposed to be, vicious?” Chanyeol replied, yelping as he got a kick from Seunghyun. 

“I wanted to ask you young fellows a favor.” Hyunsuk went to the small cart that he must have been pulling earlier and took out a wrapped parcel with no markings on it. “Do you guys know the old house at the end of the village?”

Shownu scoffed. “The one with the rumored Scoups man?”

“No way, he isn’t real.” Chanyeol said. 

“No he is! My dad saw him at the council meeting last month!” Jungkook exclaimed. “But apparently he only goes to those. No one sees him outside of those.”   
  


“Isn’t it rumored that he has an omega husband, too?” Shownu questioned. 

“Sounds like a load of BS if you ask me,” Yifan replied.

Hyunsuk tossed the parcel to Jungkook, who managed to catch it before it fell. “I need you guys to deliver it to him. Tell him it’s from Junsoong. It’s some items the council had promised to give him.”

The guys nodded, Jungkook discreetly tossing the parcel to Chanyeol who was still oblivious. They may have agreed, but mentally, no one wanted to do it. 

They waited until Hyunsuk left when Johnny said, “KUN! WE HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK!”

Kun had come back outside, bucket in his hand as he got more well water. He wasn’t having it, though. “I’m not deaf, I heard what that guy said! You guys have to do it!”   
  


The guys grumbled, obviously annoyed. No one wanted to see the rumored Scoups. 

Right at the border of the village, there existed an old house. It wasn’t in bad shape, but compared to the small cabins in the village, it definitely looked out of place. It’s rumored that less than 2 decades ago, a young man came to the council members to buy the house and inhibit it. No one sees him, though; all the council members say he’s real, along with some household leaders like Jungkook’s dad who claim to have seen him in the meeting, but whether the youngsters in the village can prove their claim, it is unknown. 

The group came to a decision: they would rock-paper-scissor, and whoever lost had to deliver the parcel while the others watch from a safe (read: far) distance to make sure the unlucky alpha didn’t die. 

Yifan wasn’t usually bad at this game; actually, it was quite rare that he loses. And today was one of those rare days. 

That’s when he found himself in front of the house of the rumored Scoups half an hour later, with the other five hiding behind a tree armed with tree branches as fighting sticks. 

He repeated the same mantra in his head to calm his nerves.  _ Greet, deliver, exit _ . Wasn’t much, anyways, but the others promised to feed him rice, so he had that to look forward to. Although, his appetite was going away. 

He took a step forward, took a deep breath, mentally cursed at Shownu who obviously cheated at the game, and gave the door three knocks. He could feel his face get hot and sticky as he heard someone unlock the door from the inside, so he quickly his the parcel behind his back right when the door opened. 

An…omega? Scoups was an alpha. Did someone else live with him? Were there more? How secretive was this group anyways-

“Hello?” The young omega in front of him asked. 

Huh. A pretty voice for a pretty person. Yifan’s fear was taking him on a whole new level. 

“Oh, uh, hey, um….” Shit, how was Yifan supposed to do this again? His mantra had three words, goddammit it! 

“Is Scoups here?” Yifan asked him. 

The omega tilted his head, eyes squinting. “S….coups? I don’t rec-Oh you mean  _ Seungcheol? _ ”

Seungcheol? Was that the mysterious man’s real name? 

“I don’t know,” Yifan admitted. “Scoups, the alpha who attends the meetings?”

“Yeah, yeah, Scoups is Seungcheol.” The teen fully opened the door as if to welcome him. “Seungcheol is my dad, yeah.” 

_ Oh?  _ The mysterious man had a  _ son? _

Now  _ that  _ was extremely odd. An adolescent omega, who stayed indoors and no one knew of his existence? Yifan was confident that the council wouldn’t like that. He didn’t really understand the situation that this Seungcheol or his son was in, but it was mysterious indeed. 

The omega smiled. “I’m Junmyeon, and you are….?"

“Oh, yeah, that’s what I forgot.” Yifan bowed down to the other, still hiding the parcel behind his back. “I’m Yifan, Wu Yifan, Xuheng’s son.”

“Xuheng?” Junmyeon asked. “That’s the…. The chief, right?”

The whole council would have been offended if they had heard Junmyeon. Respect was kind of a big thing around here, which Yifan also thought was bullshit. Sure, some of the members were good, like Yifan’s own father, Chief Xuheng. Others ...weren't so great. He didn’t particularly like Hyunsuk for one, but it wouldn’t be wise to ignore the one’s existence. 

How secluded were these people anyways?

“Yeah that’s him.” Yifan admitted. “So, um, yeah I was told to give you this.” He brought the parcel forward and handed it to Junmyeon. “Yeah, it’s for your dad, I forgot who it’s by.” 

“Oh, uh…” Junmyeon slowly reached out for the parcel and took it from Yifan. “Thanks, I’ll tell him.”

Yifan nodded. “I’ll leave now.”

“Ok, have a nice day!” Junmyeon responded, getting ready to close the door. 

“Bye!” Yifan turned around and speed-walked the hell out of there, already half-way to where the other alphas were before he turned around and ran back to the door. “Wait, wait, wait!”

Junmyeon, who had already closed the door, reopened it. “Yes?”

“I remember, it was…. Junsoong, yeah, the package is from him.” 

Junmyeon nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell my dad.”

Yifan gave him a wobbly salute. “You do that.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll leave.” Yifan walked away, slowly, but backwards so that he can still look at Junmyeon. “For good now, I promise!” 

Junmyeon laughed. “No worries! Anyone’s welcomed anytime!”

Yifan gave a smile, showing his teeth and nodding along. When Junmyeon closed the door  _ again,  _ Yifan fucking  _ sprinted  _ to where his alpha friends were hiding, the others, understandably, laughing their asses off. 

“I fucking hate you all,” he said while the others were laughing, Shownu and Seunghyun actually  _ crying  _ while Chanyeol was lying down on the floor, almost rolling around. All of them were clutching their stomachs.

“You do that!” Jungkook said in a high-pitched voice. “What the fuck, man?!”

“I don’t see you talking to Taehyung,” Yifan tried to defend himself, but it was no use. 

He couldn’t even enjoy his rice later in peace as the others teased him the entire time, asking if there would be rice at the wedding. 

***

  
Another group of omegas wasn’t any better. 

The four of them were giggling-well, no, not exactly.  _ Jimin _ was the only one who was essentially giggling. If Baekhyun weren’t mute most of the time, they would have assumed he was giggling; he did have a smile, though, so that was something. Mark Tuan – not that they associated with Mark Lee; it was obvious they were talking about omega Mark, not alpha Mark – was the only one who laughed like a normal person. Chen Le was the volume 100 in a remote control that reached to 70. Not that they knew what a TV was. Most of them didn’t even have electricity. 

The important thing was  _ why  _ these omegas in particular were laughing. Basically, they had shifted the conversation of Jimin being courted by one of the alphas, Yoongi, all the way to their imaginary union ceremonies (“A  _ wedding!!! _ ” Mark would say, but they ignored him, he knew some old slang) and they thought back to the time when they were younger and attended the union ceremony of Chan and Woojin and how Mark threw paintballs at two alphas who had been bothering Chen Le. The Great Paintball Incident was one of their favorite pastimes, and now Mark just carried paintballs everywhere he goes. 

“I never saw them after that,” Jimin said. 

“That reminds me, I swear to god, if Jackson makes one more comment at me I’m going to  _ stab  _ him,” Mark said, causing Chen Le’s laughing to get higher in pitch. 

Baekhyun just shrugged. “Alphas act like they’re better than everyone.”

Jimin reached over and rubbed Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Baek, there’s always bad alphas and good ones, and bad omegas and good omegas.”

“My mom says I’ll never be a good omega,” Chen Le said. “She still has those old views.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t care, if an alpha ever tells me that I have to listen to them because they’re the alpha, I’m dumping his sorry ass,” Mark said, reaching over to grab some dried coconut candy that Baekhyun had brought over. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Jackson is like that,” Jimin comforted him. 

Mark blinked. ” _ Jackson? _ Who the hell was talking about him, anyways?”

“I think he’s trying to court you,” Chen Le explained. 

“Hell  _ nah _ , I’m not seeing him!” Mark shrieked, sending Jimin and Chen Le into another round of laughter. “You guys are supposed to be my  _ friends,  _ I  _ can’t  _ believe you’re saying this shit.”   
  


Mark was one of the rare omegas who actually cussed, contradicting alpha Mark who was tamer than anyone else. They usually joked about the two probably switching statuses, but omega Mark would tell them that  _ he  _ just wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Alpha Mark just cared about impressing Haechan anyways. 

Well, he friends obviously weren’t afraid of speaking  _ their  _ minds as they kept spewing lies. “Chen Le, tell him what Jackson told you the other day,” Jimin said. 

“Oh yeah, he – get this – he asked me nonchalantly ‘what’s Mark’s favorite dessert’ and I was like ‘alpha or omega’ cause you know Mark Lee and whatever and he was like ‘why the blank would I give Mark Lee dessert’ and I was like ‘I don’t know everyone likes to be given dessert’-“

“Chen Le, it’s obvious he’s trying to poison me,” Mark disagreed.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Mark, you’re going to get a boyfriend.”

“OOOOOOH, MARK IS GETTING A BOYFRIEND!” Chen Le shouted. “You’re leaving me and Baek’s club and joining Jimin’s! I’m so excited!” 

“Yay, double dates!” Jimin shook his hands in the air in agreement. 

“I DON’T FUCKING LIKE JACKSON-“   
  


***

Taeyong loved getting the dairy on Wednesday.

Once a week, he would dress up him and his five children at 9:00 am exact, and by 10 they would walk to the Common Square, ready to go past the vendors and check out their products. 

Today was no exception. He woke up at sunrise, along with his husband Jaehyun, who had to get ready to work with the other fisherman. Yesterday, Jaehyun had been lucky to find some crabs and made him his favorite dish, crab and tilapia meat with rice and asparagus. No one made a fuss, excited for something new; not even his four-year old, Jongup, made a fuss. 

Taeyong made the same breakfast as always for his kids – toast with some spiced apple butter with squeezed orange juice. Jaehyun never ate breakfast home, instead taking his break later around noon to come and eat lunch with everyone instead. Taeyong already knew  _ exactly  _ what he was going to make for lunch – lemon trout with tossed greens. He checked the coins that he had been saving, and he was sure he can afford a mango later in order to make Jaehyun’s favorite mango sauce for the trout. If not, he could always use blackberries again. 

His children ate breakfast as usual. Jungshin, Jongup, Jian, Gongchan and Gunwoo, sitting around the table not causing a stir. They also looked forward to the market, because their eomma would always buy these sugar candies for them to enjoy. Taeyong would always take the handwoven bamboo basket that he was gifted at his union ceremony to put all the stuff in, and unpacking all of it at home was one of his favorite parts. 

They took the familiar walk to the square. Jungshin, age five, was the oldest, so he would stand at one side of Jian, age 3, with Jongup at the other side. These three would walk in front of them while Taeyong would hold on to Gongchan and Gunwoo, the two-year-old twins. That way, everyone would stick together and keep an eye out for each other. 

The smell of all the food wafting to the air always made Taeyong so happy. He was still a young adult, age 22, so of course food would always be in his mind. He didn’t eat it all by himself, though – he had a family to share it. 

Speaking of his family, he always experienced the same comments every time he went, so it was no surprise that he heard some on his way to the cheese stand. 

He thought of springing for some ricotta cheese, seeing how he had grown bountiful of tomatoes recently and he could grind up some extra wheat for some pasta. Maybe use some garlic cloves he had reserved. Spices were hard to come by, which is why he was thankful to have little saffron plants by the window. He had started selling some crushed saffron to the officials, which made him earn a lot of extra gold pieces. 

As he was in line, eyes watering of the cheese wheels on display, that’s when he heard two omegas nearby talking about him. They didn’t mention his name, per se, but it didn’t take a scholar to figure out what they were saying. 

The girl was telling to the guy next to her, “I can’t believe he dares to show his face in public. What  _ exactly  _ is he trying to rub in, anyways?” 

The guy shrugged. “I don’t know, his fertility? A lot of other omegas had been having problems with it recently. There’s a shortage of children.”

“A lot of stupid teenagers everywhere, though,” the girl said. Her tone was really harsh. “He’s your typically omega. Gets courted by some well-known alpha, marries young, and gives him his offspring. He’s probably trying to rub in how good in life he has.”

“My older brother wanted to date his husband,” the guy said. “But Jaehyun rejected him, saying he didn’t have time. Then he got together with  _ this  _ guy? It wasn’t even a month later that they announced they were having a union ceremony.”

“Oh please, everyone knows Jaehyun got him pregnant. Young  _ and  _ stupid.”

“His first child was born nine months later, though, he must have conceived on their wedding night-“

“Probably the real reason why they got married. They probably wanted to mate without the elders looking down on him.”

“Sir, your order?” Taeyong looked up at the vendor, a nice old man in his fifties. “You’ve been staring at the mozzarella sticks, forever, do you want some for your children?”

He also paid close attention to the conversations of the others, knowing full well they were telling lies. Everyone in this village like to gossip. Nothing ever changed. 

He shook his head at the vendor. “Do you have a tub of ricotta cheese?” he asked him. 

The vendor nodded. “It was my last one, an official came earlier and asked for a huge amount.” He turned around and grabbed a small, clay pot, handing it to Taeyong. 

“It’s always nice to see business doing well,” Taeyong replied. He let go of Gongchan’s hand, who went to the other side to grab on to Gunwoo. Taeyong grabbed the clay pot and carefully placed it in the basket, which he was swinging on his shoulder. “Thank you so much,” he said, giving the man the money.

“No problem,” the other said, taking the coins and placing it in the jar he kept under the table. “Tell me when Jaehyun finds any clams, I’ve been wanting them for  _ ages _ .”

Taeyong waved, already walking away, his children leading the way. “I’ll tell you, no worries!” 

Last time Taeyong had eaten any bivalves, it was a month ago; Jaehyun brought some mussels and they simmered it with tomato sauce. Taeyong had crushed some peppercorn to season it, and they had a fun night explaining to the children how to open the mussels. 

By 11, like always, Taeyong round up the kids and took them home. He was  _ extremely  _ happy because he had been able to purchase not  _ only  _ a mango, but also some limes, too. He couldn’t wait until he got home to make lunch. 

He might have only had a husband and five children, but it was a family of seven, and seven was a meaningful number to Taeyong. 

***

You might have some questions about the adventures of these villagers. Some will be answered, some won’t, but as what many of them have learned, patience is a valuable virtue. 

More than a few decades ago, our Earth had collapse. A disease spread throughout the globe, killing the 8 billion during that time. A small, unknown tribe, on a small island from the Korean peninsula, survived. 

Many groups of people from races and nationalities had survivors as well, but travel wasn’t common anymore, rather, quite rare. To these villagers, that is. They didn’t know how other people in the pockets of cities with survivors lived. 

In the village, the population was mainly Korean, except for the handful of Chinese, including some officials and some immigrants that arrive every now and then. The rarest was Thai – only 3 families were Thai. No Japanese, Vietnamese, or American had ever mingled with over 95% of the population. Many other places lived like the early 2000s, while these people were stuck in a much older time period, like the 1600s. Living and reproducing was the main concern, but their new generation of teenagers and young adults thought that happiness should be a priority. Their parents and the elders didn’t like that, of course, thus giving the teenagers the rebel title. 

These alphas and omegas didn’t know at the time, but this is the story of a rebellion. An overthrow, a coup d’etat, where they stood up for themselves and stopped living in fear, in hiding, or desperation. A lot will happen in this village. Hardships, curiosities, romances, and enlightenment will occur, but most importantly, they will get their answers for sure. But will they get their endings?   
  
***

“Mama, we have a problem,” Si Cheng told his mother in the evening, the two of them in the small crowded space that they dared call a kitchen. 

His mother was grabbing some spoons and a cup to measure the rice. “What is it, Si Cheng?”

“We’re out of lemongrass,” he replied, putting everything back in the ice box. “I can’t find it.”

His mother went to their low-level table and grabbed the flashlight. ‘Give me ten minutes, I’ll get some.” 

“Mama, I got it,” Si Cheng said, going up to her with his palm out. She handed him the flashlight. “I can’t just let you go out in the dark.”

“ _ I  _ can’t let my 17-year old son go out in the dark, either,” she commented, but yet she smile. She pulled him forward and gave him a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t take so long, okay?”

Si Cheng nodded, eagerly. He went out the door turned on the flashlight, already heading out to the deeper woods. 

The small hut where he lived with his mother was close to the border, only two huts down from the edge of the forest. He usually did his gathering during the day, but he didn’t recall grabbing any lemongrass. It was a bit of a far walk, but he knew the path by heart, so he went out alone, with only the artificial light to accompany him. 

The light was solar powered, meaning that you had to let it out in the sun all day if you wanted to use it in the night. He didn’t know what a non-powered flashlight did, but it was one of the only things that his mother brought with her when they arrived here at the village when he was 2 weeks old. 

He took out the small cloth bag that he always kept in his pocket for these reasons; one time, Si Cheng saw a cherry tree but had no way to bring them home, so he dug out a hole in the bamboo stalk he was holding and carried it home like that. They had to give them a good rinse, but the frozen cherry drink his mother made was delicious. 

What Si Cheng didn’t know at this time was that the first ever Japanese were about to ever set foot in this village. 

The two men, in question, were being followed. They were alphas, young, Japanese alphas, one was 22, the other 24. One was good in Korean, the other struggled a bit, so they had been doing okay in the Korea territory. The capturers did come from all the way of Japan, like them, so their patience was wearing thin. 

There were barefoot, so they didn’t make much noise as they were tip-toeing in the forest. You would at first think their clothes were rags. They each had a bag, containing items either valuable to them or to others, but at that moment silence was what they desired. 

The younger one, a young lad who went by the name Yuta, dragged his companion, Takuya, with him and hid behind a tree, a bush covering their view. “If we stay here, they can’t find us,” he told him in rapid Japanese.

Takuya shrugged. “We’re probably going to die anyway.”

“Hopefully in the future, not in the present,” Yuta told him. “Now shut up, I’m not dying because of you.”

“You shut up, you’re the reason why they found us in that city in the first place-“

“Well, if you didn’t start a fire in the city before, we wouldn’t have been in that city-“

“It’s not  _ my  _ fault, I didn’t know it was gasoline-“

“Hello?” They heard someone call out, detecting an accent to their Korean. The two alphas were in shock, hoping that it wasn’t one of those people wishing to make a hole in their cranium. 

Si Cheng had been hearing some voices but thought he was losing his mind when he heard them come from a bush. Plus, he couldn’t recognize the language, anyways; he’s only heard four types in his life, and this one was not one of them. 

He found two alphas hiding behind the bush but didn’t recognize them. He shined light on the tree, not on them directly as to not hurt their eyes. “Who are you?”

Yuta was the better Korean speaker between the two, so he spoke for both of them. “Some people are after us, do you mind helping?”

“What do you mean?” Si Cheng asked. 

That’s when Si Cheng heard more voices coming farther away. A group of four men, around their early thirties, was coming towards Si Cheng’s direction. One also had a flashlight like his, but it was much bigger and it had a handle. 

He recognized a weapon in one of their hands, though, so he didn’t move, not wanting them to chase after him instead. So there he remained, frozen in place, until they came up to him. 

“Hey, pretty omega, what are you doing out here?” One of them asked, receiving a smack from another. 

“We lost two of our men earlier, these two young alphas, do you know where they went?” The guy said.    
  


Si Cheng didn’t know which of his instincts was telling him to lie, but he pointed towards Northeast, away from his village and them. “I saw two guys with ripped clothes and backpacks earlier, they were speaking a weird language though-“

“Thank you!” They screamed, already running towards the direction Si Cheng pointed. They talked to themselves some more in that weird language and were soon out of sight and earshot. 

  
Si Cheng turned to look at the foreigners. “Why are they after you?”

“They’re bad and trying to murder us,” Takuya responded. It was the first time Si Cheng heard him speak. 

“No, but seriously,” the other asked him. “Can you help us?”   



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! Exo obsession
> 
> I am died

Junmyeon closed the door when the alpha Yifan finally went away. He was a bit confused over the whole ordeal; no one ever visited their home, less those few officials that came to talk to his dad every now and then, but never someone from the village. 

He went to the kitchen and placed the package on the kitchen island, where his eomma Jeonghan was peeling some carrots. “Someone came and said this was for appa.”

Jeonghan placed the carrot he was working on down. “Really?”

Junmyeon wasn’t the only confused. “Yeah, the official’s son, someone named Yifan. He said Junsoong sent this to Scoups.”

“Yeah, no one knows his name is Seungcheol,” Jeonghan clarified. He picked up the parcel Junmyeon had brought, shook it once and set it back down. “I wonder what it is. We’ll have to wait until your father gets home.”

Junmyeon laughed. “I thought you were the nosy type,” he said. 

Jeonghan mocked him under his breath before going to the fridge. “The disrespect I get from my own son, unbelievable.”

“Whatever, you still cheated at cards yesterday,” Junmyeon said, reaching over to steal one of the peeled carrots, plopping it in his mouth. 

Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “You guys are always against me. Dang, we ran out of onions again.”

Junmyeon grabbed the cutting board that he had been using earlier and continuing chopping up some lettuce. Jeonghan said that there was still some frozen chicken in the freezer that they should use before it spoiled, so chicken and vegetable soup was what they were serving tonight. Junmyeon had also found some apple trees deep in the woods, so they had a huge collection of apples waiting to be turned into desserts and drinks. 

He finished chopping the lettuce and poured it in a small bowl. “Eomma, didn’t you have a friend who always cheated at games, anyways? Or was that just you?"

“I will be offended later.” Jeonghan put the peeler in the basin tub to be washed later and took out a knife. “But Junhui was the one who was cheated. You know, he was  _ awful  _ at board games but those were Minghao’s favorite past time.” 

“I was thinking,” Junmyeon asked him. “If Minghao killed someone, do you think Junhui would have supported him?”

“Probably, hell yeah,” Jeonghan stated. “Although, you remember when Minghao left someone half-dead in an alley? Junhui helped him not get in trouble."

“Sounds just like true love,” Junmyeon added. 

Jeonghan smiled. “I’m glad I was able to attend their wedding before we ran away. It went just as Minghao has always dreamed of. Except the part where he was four-months pregnant, but he didn’t even see it as a bad thing."

“You were also four-months pregnant when you and appa ran away, right?” Junmyeon asked him. 

“Yeah, I was thin but it got noticeable. Then, you know, the whole catastrophe happened and, you know.” Jeonghan grabbed four of the apples that were in the crate in the corner. “I’m really in the mood for apple juice, now.”

“Appa will get mad if you drink some without him.”

“He’ll live. He ate my fucking garlic bread yesterday, he better bring me those hibiscus flowers.”

***

“YO MARK! WAIT FOR ME!"

Mark Tuan didn’t move from his spot. He was sitting under a tree, casting a big shade that provided him some comfort. His basket next to him contained cut sugar canes which his mom told him to get if he wanted her to make those delicious small pastries later. All he wanted now was a nap, though.

“TUAN! COME HERE!”

Oh they were calling for  _ him,  _ not Mark Lee. It was a tall figure in the distance, to which he had assumed was an alpha. Alphas didn’t typically call for Mark unless they were bored. 

He still didn’t bother to move. All his friends were busy today, anyways. Yoongi took Jimin somewhere, Chen Le was helping his family rebuild some room that was falling apart, and Baekhyun was indoors alone again. However, they did agree to go stargazing later, so that was the only thing Mark was looking forward to. 

It obviously wasn’t now, though. He closed his eyes and rested his head back against the tree, ignoring the alpha’s yelling. He didn’t know what their problem was, but he didn’t care. 

Like all alphas, in his opinion, this one was going to be stubborn, so it didn’t surprise him that the next time he heard his name being called, the alpha was right in front of him. 

Annoyed, he opened up his eyes and immediately frowned. “Jackson, what are you doing here?”

Jackson was standing in front of him, holding a box wrapped with cloth. “I’ve been looking all over for you! Have you been asleep here the whole time?”

Mark grabbed the axe that was lying beside the basket. “I have an axe.”

“Oh, sugarcane!” Jackson exclaimed. “That’s cool! I’m always in the mood for sweets. Speaking of sweets…” he lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged in front of Mark, handing out the box. “I brought you a gift.”

_ I told him your favorite dessert was apple roses, and he told me that it wouldn’t be hard to make, Mark I think he’s going to make some for you- _

Mark raised an eye at him. “Is it dessert?”

Jackson pouted. “Chen Le can’t keep a secret.”

Mark pushed the box away from him, ignoring the hurt expression on the other’s face. “It’s no secret that you’re always harassing me.”

“Where do you come up with these ideas?” Jackson questioned him. “It’s already harassment or bothering-“

“Literally what else have you ever done on me?” Mark rose up the axe so that it was facing facing blade-front. “Can you go away?”

“Can you accept this gift that I am offering you?”

“Why don’t you just go back to make others omegas uncomfortable and leave me the fuck alone,” Mark yelled at him. 

Jackson jerked his head back. “I don’t make omegas uncomfortable.”

“Well, you’re making me uncomfortable, so leave.”

Jackson sighed and placed the box next to the basket with the sugar canes. “Oh, all right. Just don’t let the apple roses go stale, then it won’t be as tasty.” He got up and dusted off his shorts, sporting light grass stains already. “I’ll see you later at the campfire, then! Jinyoung invited a whole lot of us. I’ll even bring those wheat crackers that I’ve heard you like.”

Mark rolled his eyes. Jinyoung was a nice enough omega, around the same age as Mark and his friends. However, recently he had been courted by an alpha named Jaebum, and everyone knew he was a troublemaker. He’s gotten yelled out by the elders multiple times and even got in trouble with the officials twice. 

He could only hope that Chen Le hadn’t heard of the campfire yet. Chen Le was the most outgoing between the four of them, but it was usually Jimin who would be friendly with everyone. Baekhyun was either quiet or didn’t go at all, and Mark was the one who would defend them from assholes. It was a whole system that they had unintentionally set up. 

Mark got up from his spot on the floor and picked up the basket, giving Jackson a yeah, sure, whatever as he headed his way out of the forest, not noticing that Jackson was still running behind him. 

“Mark! You forgot your apple roses!” Jackson screamed. He ran up to Mark, scaring the fuck out of him for a second before placing the box on top of the sugar canes. “There. Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“I’m fine, thanks Jackson, good _ bye _ .” Mark swung up the axe that he was holding with his other hand, making Jackson scurry away before shouting a goodbye.

Mark swore to himself that he  _ will  _ punch Jackson next time he saw him.    
  
***

Mark considered him and his friends the “undesirable omegas”, with flaws that have been drilled into their heads either by family, people their age, or themselves. However, they weren’t the only ones who gave themselves that title. 

It was just a pair of best friends, often forgotten in the village. Both were loud and loved to play around and weren’t intimidated by other alphas. In fact, the elder one between them, one whose name was Hakyeon, was already being courted by one of the most intimidating alphas of the village, Taekwoon. Others in the community haven’t been fond of the alpha's choice, but considering how there was a shortage of omegas recently, they couldn’t really recommend him someone else. 

Taehyung, the younger, had been one of the most supportive people, picking a fight with any parent who claimed their omega was better. The adults had such an outdated view on life, they thought. There were rare cases when the officials would step in and force an omega to mate with an alpha, usually one of their sons, and it almost never ended pretty. The only good case that they remember was Yixing being handed off to Jongdae, which only worked out because the two had secretly been seeing each other behind everyone’s backs. Other people, like Baekhyun’s parents, weren’t so lucky, driving the mother to suicide before the dad left him and his elder brother alone. No one knows where he ran off to, but there is yet to be a sighting. 

The officials and the elders were getting impatient, though. It was a good thing that Taehyung wasn’t on the top of their list of unmated omegas that needed to be married off. 

The two of them were eating baked potato slices that Taehyung had made earlier. They were talking about the campfire Jinyoung was going to throw later that day, and Hakyeon had been talking about his struggle with Taekwoon. 

“The thing is,” he was saying. “Usually he says the same thing how he doesn’t like these type of events. However, his excuse this time is that he doesn’t want  _ me  _ to go.”

“Well, that’s not possessive at all.” Taehyung reached his glass of water. He went over on the salt with this batch; he would have to remember that for next time. “I thought he wasn’t your cliché bad alpha."

“I swear, he’s not though.” Hakyeon, unlike Taehyung, like the amount of salt that went to the slices, so he proceeded to grab a handful more, ignoring the crumbs that were littering around on the hardwood floor. “But he said something about not liking the people that were going.”

“I thought he didn’t have a problem with Jaebum, though,” Taehyung said. “And Jinyoung’s nice. What could go wrong?”

“If I’m being honest, I think a lot of the officials’ sons are going to crash it, and we  _ know  _ how big assholes they are.”

Taehyung sighed. “Dang it. I only like Yifan and his friends. Although, if I’m being honest, I think I angered one of them lately.”

Hakyeon was surprised. “Really? Why?”

“I can see his eyeballs bore holes in my skull every time I walk past him. I don’t like it. I feel like he’s going to kill me.”

“Do you know his name?”

“I think it’s…it starts with a J, that’s all I know."

***

There was a great number of outcast alphas in the village, surpassing more than the omegas. 

Over the past two decades, the chance of having an omega offspring had been increasingly low. Many alphas weren’t in the mood to mate so young, but it had been getting difficult for them to find an omega to date. Some were trying their best. 

Some, like Yoongi, were starting with the ancient courtship rules. 

His first encounter with young Jimin was a year ago; the other had been making a flower crown for his friend Baekhyun. Yoongi would watch him, not with stalker eyes, but with those of curiosity. He would watch Jimin sit around with friends, his laughter filling Yoongi’s ears. He would see him walk every, long sleeve sweater on as he always complained of a cold. He would see Jimin stuck his toes in one of the side rivers, the cuffs of his pants getting wet as he danced in the shallow end of the river. 

During the Day of the White Roses, Yoongi had shown up at Jimin’s doorstep with a single white rose, asking permission from the other to court him. The two had been taking slow, as Jimin was unaware the other had it in content, but enjoyed the relationship the two had. 

Others started with friendship, claiming they can beat the odds, like Mark and Donghyuck. 

They became friends at the age of 11. Donghyuck had been getting teased by other omegas, claiming that he made them look bad. Donghyuck had climbed up a tree to try to prove his worth, but unfortunately fell. The others ran off, laughing at the mistake he had made, when Mark had stayed behind and tended his wounds. 

Now at the age of 18, the two of them told each other everything and considered the other one their priority. However, they had recently been experiencing attraction towards the other, but refused to say a word, worried that they would ruin the friendship between them, claiming it was only the different status that made them feel that way. 

Other alphas straight up  _ flirted  _ with the omegas, hoping they would be flirted back. Like Jackson. 

He had been trying to get Mark Tuan’s attention for over a couple of months now, but the other refused to acknowledge him. He admits that he has flirted with other omegas in the past and thought that’s why Mark never took him seriously. He was going to make a compliment to aaMark every chance he got, maybe invite him to his house to eat. You never know. 

Sadly, most alphas would never get the chance to interact with those that they pursue. Maybe eventually, but they stay in a state of mind that the interactions will never occur. 

Take Johnny for example. At the age of 8, he beat up an official’s son who had been harassing another alpha. The official’s always want to look good, though, so they tarnished the Seo name and has made his family one of the forgotten ones. Sure, he hung out with Yifan and his friends, but the people in the village liked to forget that fact. 

That didn’t stop him from admiring Ten, though. He was in one of the three Thai families, having immigrated with them when he was 10, hence the nickname. (No one dared called him Chittaphon; the family always got sensitive with the pronunciation.) He was an omega admired by many, due to his beauty and his respectful nature. 

Johnny like Ten because he was one of the only people who bothered to talk to him. They would bump paths in the morning, Ten with a basket to collect rice from the fields while Johnny carried his nets for the fish. Those short but sweet interactions every morning where what he looked forward to every day. The fact that Ten was single shocked him, but he knew it wouldn’t last for long; the officials would surely find a way to make him mate with someone. 

Another ignored alpha was Park Jisung. His height and kindness was a desirable trait that the elders loved, but he had a habit for ruining everything he touched. If he wasn’t taking care of the chores of his house or watching over his siblings, he kept to himself. He still had yet to find someone who was willing to talk to him.

There was an  _ enormous  _ amount of alphas who were assholes; those who thought that alphas were the superior status, that they should never show emotions, that there were certain activities that only omegas could do. Unfortunately, these consisted of a considerable amount of the alpha population, but most of them won’t find an omega. People were realizing their worth and demanded to be respected. This wasn’t the early 2000s anymore. 

Jaehyun was a good example of this explanation. He loved his omega husband, Taeyong, although the latter often received criticism by alphas and omegas combined. They hated how Jaehyun would help around the house and take care of his children, claiming it had to be an omegas job. In Taeyong’s case, they didn’t respect him due to the large amount of children that they had together. It wasn’t that Taeyong didn’t know how to protect himself, he was just very fertile. This is a particular reason why the officials were about to marry him off when he was just 15. 

The two didn’t go through common courtship until right before they had their union ceremony; they actually grew up as friends together. They were always by the other’s side, defending them from everybody else and lending a shoulder when the other needed one. This is particularly why Taeyong never had any other friends; some were jealous, sure, but the thought of actively seeking one never crossed his mind, not when he had Jaehyun by his side. 

Taeyong didn’t see himself in the developing stage as others claim at the age of 14, but the officials didn’t like that. That year, no one has been able to give birth to a child, and the idea of Taeyong being there for them to use was a sickening thought that crossed their minds that Taeyong is still surprised Jaehyun hasn’t murdered one of them. He’s been vocal about it, sure, but he never attempted it, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stay by Taeyong’s side. 

One of the official’s son, a shitty 19-year-old, complained that he wasn’t able to get an omega partner. The officials thought it was an excellent idea and bribed Taeyong’s parents with a large sum of currency so that Taeyong would marry him. He had also been feeling things for Jaehyun at the age, he would tell him later, but he didn’t like the son and didn’t want to be forced to marry him. 

Jaehyun had been gaining some popularity with other alphas and omegas, but Taeyong’s feelings for him had been mutual. That is why, when Taeyong broke down one evening, the two of them in ratty sleepwear clothes, he sobbed how it wasn’t fair that he was going to marry that jerk, how his parents never really loved him, how he even had feelings for Jaehyun but none of it mattered anymore because he will never-

Jaehyun didn’t let him finish, of course. His shut his mouth with his own, feeling the other’s warmth as they slid their hands onto each other’s back, gasping and seeking for air a few seconds later before starting it all over again, a process they repeated many times that night.

Before the parents and the officials could seal the deal and announce it, Jaehyun and Taeyong announced their courtship and future engagement to one another to the public. People would gossip and call them young and stupid and horny, but they were the only ones who would know the truth. It was frowned upon to break two people’s relationship, so the officials for once didn’t have the victory. Taeyong’s parents disowned him, of course, but Jaehyun had been getting help from his parents, and the two were wed at the age of 16, expecting young Jungshin 9 months later. 

The laws were, pardon me for my language, really fucked up. For some, though, this place was more desirable than their origins. Jeonghan lost contact with his friends, but it was to make sure his mate and his baby wouldn’t get murdered. The Chinese immigrants have come from a city of many horrors that they don’t wish to see again. 

It didn’t mean they had to agree with it, though. 

***

Si Cheng turned off his flashlight and led the two Japanese towards the small hut. He didn’t like hiding the fact to his mother that he was hiding two strangers in the hut, so he had until tomorrow to phrase it correctly to persuade her. 

The plan was this: he would get inside and leave the door unlocked. He would hand his mother the lemongrass, and while she wasn’t looking, they would sneak in and enter the room on the right. 

It was foolproof enough; his mother didn’t suspect anything, and they spent the rest of the hour cooking and cleaning, talking and laughing like normal. When his mother said she was going to sleep, Si Cheng hugged her goodnight and went back to his room. 

Yuta and Takuya spent the hour sitting on the floor, not wanting to go through the omega’s things; they couldn’t anger someone who had the power to kick them out at the moment, plus, the movement would alert the mother that someone was in the room. They spoke to each other in hushed Japanese, instead, hoping the mother wouldn’t hear them talking about the day they just had. 

Si Cheng came in with two hot cups of lemongrass tea and set them on his little nightstand. “It’s nighttime and pretty chilly, so I thought you guys would like to drink something.”

Takuya nodded fiercely, throat having been parched all day since he drank all his water supply and had to borrow some from Yuta. He stood up and allowed himself to stretch his legs, Yuta soon following his gesture, when Si Cheng left the room, presumably to get something. 

Yuta walked over to the nightstand and grabbed one of the cups, softly blowing over it to cool it down before he took a small sip. Lemongrass tea was one of his favorites, only being beaten by green tea and jasmine tea. He must have tried over hundreds of different types of teas back in Japan.

Takuya, bless that soul, drank the hot tea in one gulp, fanning his mouth afterwards as if he didn’t know they were supposed to be hot. Yuta concluded that he must be tired. 

Si Cheng came back with a white wooden box, a handful of towels, and a handwoven bamboo basket filled with water. “I noticed you guys had some wounds,” he explained. “We don’t have a shower here, we bathe in the river, but it’s too dark for you guys to go down there, so you’ll have to clean up here.”

Yuta set the tea down and walked over to Si Cheng. “Thank you for helping us, we’ve been having a rough day.”

“Rough week,” Takuya corrected. “Wait. Month. That’s more accurate.”

Si Cheng set all the stuff on the floor and motioned them to sit down as well. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“We survived,” Yuta said, as Si Cheng dapped one of the small towels in the water. “That’s the only thing that mattered.” 

“True.” He opened the white box and took out a small bottle, pouring some of the clear liquid on the towel. “This is going to hurt.”

“How did I know it was alcohol?” Yuta laughed but quickly yelped when Si Cheng pressed the soft towel on the deep gash on his forehead. 

Si Cheng jerked back, underestimating the deepness of it. “I’m so sorry, I thought it was a scratch-“

“Nah, the knife was really sharp,” Yuta explained. “Don’t worry, I’ll manage.”

After a few more minutes of Si Cheng cleaning up Yuta’s cuts, stopping every now and then whenever Yuta hissed at the pain, he moved on to Takuya, who had less serious ones but was more sensitive. 

While Si Cheng worked on Takuya, Yuta finished the rest of his tea. He hasn’t been in Japan in a long time and he really missed it. He could only hope he would not get in any trouble for a little while in Korea. 

When they were finished tending their wounds, Si Cheng took back the two empty cups and bought back two bowls of rice for them. While the two Japanese ate the rice, he took out two pairs of shorts and shirts from the closet and laid it out on the mattress for them to use. He also grabbed a spare blanket he had in his closet and took it out, bidding them goodnight. 

“You guys can use the water basin in the washroom,” he instructed them. “You can set the rice bowls on the nightstand when you’re done. I don’t know if the sleepwear will fit you, but those were the biggest ones I can find. You can search the closet if you want.”

Takuya stop chewing his rice and asked him, mouth half-full “Where will you sleep?”

Si Cheng grabbed a small pad of paper he kept on the nightstand and a piece of charcoal. “I’ll go to the common room and draw. My mom will think I fell asleep there.”

Before one of them could protest, Si Cheng already closed the door, and none of them wanted to risk getting out. Their presence had to stay a secret. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally the only reason this is non traditional abo is because, like.... how do they get stuff done if they want to only FUCK for one week
> 
> There are heats and whatever, but it's more like how women have their periods; yes, they are horny, but they are also hungry and bored and emotional and cry because they want to cookie and cry cause they want to bang and cry because they want to do both and-
> 
> But yeah I'll release some information bit by bit


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm going to start recommending fanfics cause y not
> 
> regarding multifandom idk but please tell me a good soonhoon one i neeed 2 know

“Do people normally like bananas?” Yifan asked Shownu a few days after. 

Shownu looked at him, confused. “Why do you care about bananas all of a sudden?”

“Answer the question, would it be a nice gift?” Yifan repeated. 

There were rare, exotic fruits and vegetables that many people didn’t have access to. Mangos, for example, were hard to come by, and so were kiwis, raspberries, and bananas. Usually officials and their families were the ones who managed to get ahold of them when they came by, although the villagers will sometimes spring for one every now and then. 

Three of the officials, include Hyunsuk, would always travel out of the village and came with imports that they have gotten from others. They were the ones who had access to maps and technology that the villagers didn’t even know what they were called. 

For Yifan to gift someone bananas, he was either trying to apologize them or impress them. Shownu was getting more intrigued. “Who are they for?"

Yifan lighted up. “Do you remember last week when we gave that package to Scoups?”

Shownu could feel the lightbulb in his head flickering. “Is he mad that you tried to flirt with his omega son? Badly?”

Yifan squinted at him. “I never met Mr. Scoups.”

The lightbulb was fully on now. “Apologize the mom?”

Or not. 

Yifan stared at the bananas that he held in his hand. “Never mind, forget I asked-“

“Oh, you’re trying to impress the omega!” Shownu jumped out of his seat, the electrician in his head declaring a job well done. “You _ like _him, that’s why you stuttered!”

“Hey, you know, can you keep it down a bit,” Yifan asked him. “And I don’t like him, I’m just…..curious.”

The six alphas had agreed to keep the omega and his mother a secret, since no one knew of their existence, and they couldn’t deny or accept rumors of Scoups either. It had been a secret for so long, it must remain that way. Plus, it was cooler if only they knew. 

Although, it had been weird. Why did Hyunsuk tried to make them go, anyways? Why ruin a decade’s worth of secrets on a group of alphas trying to play a stupid game? Did they want the alphas to be intimidated?

Jungkook had suggested that the few officials who knew of their presence probably wanted them to start hanging out in the village. Seunghyun took it to a dark turn to say that maybe they wanted Junmyeon to mate with someone soon, especially with the low birth rates that have been occurring with recent years. 

Yifan had to admit that Junmyeon was indeed very pretty, but it would be cruel to force him with someone after no years of interacting with someone. That would be a douche move on the councils part. 

He opened up some drawers, rummaging inside until he pulled out what he was looking for: a long strand of white ribbon. He grabbed the bunch of bananas and wrapped the ribbon around it, tying a lopsided knot. 

He proudly lifted it up. “See? Would this be a nice gift?"

“Bold of you to assume the other doesn’t get bananas often,” Shownu said. 

Yifan rolled his eyes. “Bold of you to assume I know everything about him.”

“At the rate you’re going, it’ll be soon enough.” 

“Haha, really funny.” Yifan looked at the small alarm clock on his nightstand, one of the only clocks in the village. “Hey, Chanyeol should be here by now.”

“I would be worried, but considering how the last three times it’s because he ran into a tree, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Shownu said. 

Yifan untied the ribbon, unsatisfied on how it turned out. If he was going to give a gift, it couldn’t be a mediocre one. 

Shownu spoke up again during Yifan’s fourth try. “ Do you think the council is going to marry you off, soon?”

Yifan stopped wrapping the ribbon and turned around. “Where is _ that _coming from?”

“Well, when I came in earlier, some of the officials were talking about how you’re getting old enough.” Shownu explained. 

Yifan shook his head. “My dad had been saying for a while now that I could be initiated as an official soon.”

“You know most officials are mated alphas,” Shownu said. 

“My dad said that I will have the freedom to choose an omega, and I will uphold his promise,” Yifan stated. Shownu only sigh.

“Well, you might as well start courting an omega soon. They’ve been talking about the omegas for a while now. They talked about the Chinese one and his mother. I think the Thai one with his parents. Some other ones. I don’t know what they’re planning.”

“Only they would be desperate that we start a new generation,” Yifan said. “They always butt in everything. Can’t they give everyone a break?”

***

It happened on the way to the rice marsh. 

His father told him last night that their rice supply had run out again, the second time this month. Which meant that Jisung had to go collect some the next day. Rice was what they ate for every meal, three meals, no matter if accompanied with vegetables, meat, soup or nothing at all. If Jisung wanted to eat, he was going to have to collect some. 

He rose up early in the morning, putting on his slippers and grabbing the wooden basket, out the door before the sun could completely rise. Pretty soon, the rest of his family was going to wake up and complain of starvation, so he was going to have to be as quick as possible. 

He went through the familiar worn-down path that headed towards one of the smaller marshes. The council had taken ownership of the larger ones a few years back, so if the people wanted rice, they had to buy it or get it from somewhere else. Of course, Jisung’s family didn’t have money to spare, so he had to make the long walk to the smaller marsh, hidden by some thick trees. 

He had never found much activity from that one specific marsh, so he figured not many people knew of its existence. It was more rice for him, he supposed, even though he could never carry it all; rice was heavy, and by the time he would reach his house, his arms would be entirely sore. One time, the basket gave out during one of his trips and broke, so he had to walk back home for another basket _ and _ walk back to the marsh to get rice _ and _carry it back home. Luckily, he didn’t have to do any other chores that day, for surely he would have fainted. 

The only sound in the forest was the crunch of dead leaves he would step on and the occasional hit the basket would make with a tree branch. He was bored out of his skull and tossed it upwards and caught it, repeating it multiple times until he accidentally threw it behind him. 

Cursing out loud, he walked back a few steps and stopped, reaching over to grab the basket. He dusted it off and took a few leaves here and there. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of crunching leaves that made him freeze. 

Those sounds weren’t from him; he had stopped walking. An animal? He had never gotten enough alpha training to hunt; besides, it wasn’t like he had the spears with him anyways. 

He heard the sounds again, but this time it was also sounds of branches moving. He walked closer to the sounds and realized they were coming from a nearby bush, which was viciously shaking. 

There wasn’t an animal in sight, so he grabbed the longest and thickest broken branch he could carry and, raising the basket to shield his face, started swinging the branch on the bush. 

Most certainly did he not expect shouts at all. He gave three hits before he realized that they were, in fact, not animal shrieks but a human crying in pain. 

He threw the branch on the grab and lifted the basket higher to protect his face. Using his foot, he pried the bush open at the center and that’s when he saw him. 

Oh, that was the problem. He accidently beat up an omega. The boy was lying down, hands wrapped around himself. His clothes were torn, and Jisung could see bruises on his arms and face. There was even a nasty gash on the kid’s forehead, around 2 inches long and it looked pretty deep. 

The boy was whimpering in pain, thanks to Jisung. He didn’t bother to look into the alpha’s eyes. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Jisung shouted, throwing the basket nearby. He bent down and tried to calm the other who wouldn’t stop shaking. “I thought you were an animal!”

The omega had stopped shaking but still had his arms wrapped around himself. “I fell asleep and I was waking up.” 

Needless to say, it was a long walk home for Jisung. 

***

He woke up earlier than he would have liked to. 

Kun considered himself a night owl, preferring to stay up long past midnight and wake up right before noon. Rarely he would wake up at the crack of dawn, but exceptions are always made. 

He let out a loud groan and lifted the quilted higher to pull over his face as he crawled back into his pillow. However, no matter how much he attempted to block out the sounds of outside, Kun eventually couldn’t go back to sleep. 

Throwing the quilt aside, he stared at the ceiling for a good minute before he eventually made him get off the bed and put on his slippers. If people were going to stand outside his house and make a commotion, then he had the right to know what was going on and to tell them to shut it. 

Kun grabbed his robe and put it on before walking to the foyer, opening the door slowly as he let his eyes adjust to the light. It wasn’t until a few seconds later until he realized what was going on. 

Across the road from his house, there was a shop that was known for having a place outside for people to gather. In this case, a group of omegas and alphas appeared to be surrounding someone pushed against the wall, as there was a small space, but who they were confronting, Kun didn’t know. 

He walked outside, shielding his face from the sun as he yelled out a small hey to them. He didn’t know what fight was going on, but for a 27-year-old man, he wanted his sleep, thank you very much. 

They made room for him to pass, which confused the alpha but okay. Why they would involve him in this mess, he didn’t know. 

“Why are you guys screaming so early?” He asked one of the alphas, who he recognized to be Shownu’s father. “What’s going on?”

“This young fellow just appeared here,” the man replied. “He might have been here all night, but no one has noticed until now when the shop was being opened up. He doesn’t seem to speak Korean.

“He might speak Chinese,” one of the female omegas told him. “But you know how most of them are at the other side of the village. And you know they don’t really mingle with us.”

Chinese? Kun was good at that. He was one of the only Chinese who didn’t live among the immigrants. His family actually goes back three generations since they moved here, but his parents had died when he was 21 from a disease, so that’s why he lived alone. 

He pushed his way towards the front, and that’s when he saw the young omega. The guy was crouched on the ground, hands covering his chest as he pushed himself farther towards the wall as to get away from these people, a feeling Kun relates most of the time. The omega’s clothes were all teared up, his black and red sweater having a few holes covering his stomach and shoulders. He was also sporting some bruises along his face and neck, and had horrible bags under his eyes. 

Kun kneeled down to his level and spoke to him. “Do you speak Mandarin?”

The other’s face lit up. “Thank you, I don’t understand these people at all.”

Kun merely shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Where do you come from, anyways?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Kun frowned. Amnesia? That was rare. It has only happened in 4 occasions in the village’s history as far as he knew, but it apparently occurs during head trauma or something. Although, that would explain the latter’s bruises. They were going to take a long time to heal up, too 

Letting out a sigh, he reached over and grabbed the latter’s sleeve, pulling him upwards, He didn’t miss the omega wincing. “He’s going to come to my place for now,” he told the other villages in Korean. “He only knows Mandarin and he has amnesia. He’s going to need time to heal.”

“It was about time we got some omegas,” one of the alphas said. “All of the ones here are too prude and stingy.”

“Kun, let him stay at my place instead,” another shouted. 

“What are they saying,” the guy asked him, to which Kun said don’t worry about it as he dragged him back to his house, locking the bolts behind them to prevent any other stupid person come by. 

The guy just stared around the house while Kun spoke. “Most of the Chinese in the village live towards the edge, but I doubt that most of them will have room for you, so you can stay here as long as you like, wait for your amnesia to end, your injuries to heal, whatever, but I wouldn’t recommend you to spend a lot of time outside.”

The other frowned. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Just your usual lot of assholes.” Kun went to his room for a minute and came back with a towel and some clothes. “You can shower for now if you like, I’ll be in my room if you need anything. Do you remember your name, by the way?”

The other pondered for a moment. “I think……Xi……Xiao… something. I think it ended in Jun. Xiao something Jun.”

Kun nodded. “Xiaojun it is.”  
  


***

They’ve been living his bedroom for a whole week. 

Si Cheng didn’t know much about them or where they came from. The only thing he knew was that, just like how he came from a certain region that was known as China, they were in a similar spot but called Japan, and thus they knew Japanese. He doesn’t know why they were running, who they were running from, and why they couldn’t go back. 

He hadn’t told his mother yet, even though he promised that he would. They never leave the room, unless it’s to go to the river, in which they wait until his mother is out in the forest. Si Cheng felt bad of them being cooped up in there, but they had no where else to go. 

When Si Cheng came back after collecting some rice, his mother went out to their little garden to plant some seeds for fruit. He took this time to go to his room, where he found the two alphas quietly playing with some thing they made a few days ago. They had asked for a block of wood, a knife, some bamboo and leaves, where they made some weird trinket that Si Cheng still didn’t understand how to play. 

The two stopped playing when they saw Si Cheng come in. He had no idea what they were saying, since it was in Japanese, but they stopped speaking it anyways. 

Si Cheng merely gave them a nod before going to his close to stack the small towels that had been drying the sun. That’s when the quieter one, who couldn’t speak Korean that well, stood up. 

“Can I, uh, outside?” He gestured pointing to the door. “Safe?”

“Can he go outside,” the younger explained. “He’s trying."

“Well, I mean,” Si Cheng said, stopping what he was doing. “My mom’s in the garden, just be careful, but um… I guess?”

“Thank you,” the elder said before walking out. 

Takuya, Si Cheng had realized, wasn’t really an indoors person. Everytime he went to the river, we would stall for as long as he could, enjoying the wind and the sun and the water. The younger one, Yuta, was the opposite; if he didn’t see the sun for days, well, that wouldn’t be a problem for him. 

Si Cheng turned to look at Yuta, who still didn’t play with the trinket. “Aren’t you going to the river with him?” he asked. 

Yuta shook his head. “Not gonna lie, but I don’t think he’s going to the river.”

Si Cheng was confused. “Wait, then where is he going?”

Yuta shrugged. “He just wants to walk around. Look at things. Maybe ... hey, does everyone in this village know everyone?”

Si Cheng sat down criss-crossed on the floor. “Well, depends on the group of people. The officials know everyone, but if you’re indoors all the time, they won’t really recognize you.” 

Yuta nodded and looked down to the trinket he was holding. “Do they know you?”

Si Cheng shook his head. “They don’t really know all the poor chinese.”

“Well, let’s hope Takuya passes as Chinese,” Yuta said, laughing at his own comment. “That way they don’t ask questions.” 

Si Cheng bit his lip and looked down, not wanting to look at Yuta. “I don’t know if I can keep you guys here any longer.”

Yuta smiled. “No worries, a few days was better than none. Thank you, though, I know it’s not your responsibility.” 

Si Cheng nodded. “Where did you learn Korean?”

“Well, in the Osaka region, there were some teachers who knew the language,” Yuta explained, “so they taught it to some of us. Takuya joined much later and didn’t get to fully learn it. What about you?”

Si Cheng started folding and unfolding one of the towels that he was holding. “My mother came here when I was younger, and I guess I picked it up from the other villagers. She doesn’t speak it well, though, so I’m always the one who goes into the town.” 

“Oh, so you’re fluent, then,” Yuta said. He lifted up the thing in his hand and asked him, “hey, do you want to play?”

***

Baekhyun was going to be late to their meeting spot. 

He started running, which was a bad idea since he tripped over a branch, landing hard on his arms and face. He must have sprained his elbow, though, because when he tried to lift himself up, he let out a whine due to the pain that shot up his arm. 

He didn’t even recognize that someone had come up behind him, helping him get up. The person must have been tall, though, because they easily lifted him up off the ground. 

Baekhyun whimpers got quieter as he tried to regain his balance before the guy behind him spoke. 

“Hey, are you okay, Baekhyun?” the guy said. Baekhyun realized that it was one of the alphas, Chanyeol, who was part of Yifan’s group. He was right, though; this alpha was abnormally tall. “That was a nasty fall, there’s always debris everywhere.”

Baekhyunn had no idea what debris mean but he was probably referencing the branch. “I’m fine-ow!” He shouted when he tried to stand on his right foot. He must have sprained that, too. 

“Oh, here, I’ll help.” Chanyeol bent down and was about to carry the omega when Baekhyun interrupted him.

“Please don’t,” Baekhyun said. “I’m fine, promise.”   
  


Chanyeol nodded. “Well, you still need help to walk.” He threw Baekhyun’s arm over his shoulder and grabbed his waist. “Here, you can lean on me, I’ll help, don’t worry.” 

It was pretty awkward in Baekhyun’s opinion, but he had no other choice. He couldn’t even crawl. He didn’t know much about Chanyeol, anyways."

“Where are you heading?” Chanyeol asked him. 

“To Jimin’s house,” Baekhyun said. “It’s near the main rice field.”

“Okay, then.” Chanyeol tried to lift Baekhyun up a little more. The latter was so short. “Lead the way.”  
  


***

Jimin was already freaked out when Baekhyun came in with some gashes (not to mention the fact that it was _ the Chanyeol _that brought him there) but when Chen Le came, it was a thousand times worse. 

Mark’s first reaction was to go get the fat hidden stick that has never broken and could probably kill someone. However, it took a lot of persuading to calm them down. 

“Guys, I’m fine, it was an accident,” Chen Le explained. “The guy thought I was an animal, he wasn’t actually out to get me-”

“Well, I’ll _ accidentally _hit him with this!” Mark screeched and would have headed out the door if Jimin didn’t pull him back. “Jimin, let me go before I ask your man as backup.”

“Yoongi wouldn’t hurt a soul,” Jimin said. “Chen Le, how would he mistake you for an animal?”

“I fell asleep in the bush again,” Chen Le explained. “And when I woke up, well, he heard some noise, and the rest-”

“Have you seen your parents yet?” Baekhyun asked him. “They’re going to get really upset-”

“They’re going to beat your ass,” Mark said. “Guys, plan C, he can stay at my place first-”

“Well, it’ll take a long time before these marks go away.” Chen Le said. He pointed to one of the gashes on his arms. “This is going to leave a scar, they’ll be mad about that.” 

“Why would they be mad about a scar?” Jimin asked, followed by an ow as Mark gave him a punch. 

Chen Le shrugged. “They say an alpha wouldn’t want an omega with impure skin.”

“Well, they’re assholes,” Mark said, “and any alpha who thinks that.”   
  
***

“Jeonghan, did you drink all the apple juice?!” Seungcheol screamed. Jeonghan was in the living room, trying to draw on one of the pieces of paper that Seungcheol had somehow managed to make. “Why would you do that?”

“I was _ thirsty _, Seungcheol,” Jeonghan stated. “What else was I going to get?”

“Oh, I could have helped you with that.” Seungcheol winked at his husband, to which Jeonghan replied with a blowing kiss.

“Who needs help?” Junmyeon climbed down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“I need help making apple juice,” Seungcheol explained to his son. “Because _ someone _drank all the apple juice.”

“You know, the hibiscus tea was to replace my uneaten garlic bread,” Jeonghan said, “but you drank all that too, so frankly, I don’t care.”

“The disrespect in this household.” Seungcheol shook his head. “I can’t believe it.” 

“I thought you liked that-” Jeonghan started to say before they heard a knock on the door. “_ Again? _ Seungcheol, the officials are trying to kill us.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Seungcheol said, grabbing a basketful of apples in the corner, to which Junmyeon started washing. “Here, I’ll answer the door.”

“It might be that awkward alpha trying to flirt with Junmyeon last time,” Jeonghan said, making Junmyeon turn red. “He looks like the type who would try to impress someone. I bet my apple juice share!”

“Shit, he must really be a flirt if you betting something sweet,” Seungcheol said before slowly opening the door, the official’s son right in front of him. 

Yifan, son of Xuheng, was in front of his doorstep, holding up a bunch of bananas with badly tied ribbon around it. “Hello, sir, nice to see you,” Yifan bowed down to him. 

Well, this was an unexpected visit. “Yifan, nice to see you,” Seungcheol said slowly. “What can I help you with?”

“Um,” Yifan said. “Is Jun-your son, Junmyeon here?” Yifan asked.

Seungcheol was a bit wary of Yifan, but it wasn’t anything personal. He was just wary of anyone near his husband and son, no matter if male or female, omega or alpha. Although, no one knew them, only the officials. He hated having the officials over. But Yifan didn’t look like he meant any harm. Seungcheol opened the door wider. “You can come in.”

Jeonghan probably knew that was going to happen, considering how he basically dealt with everything concerning Minghao and Junhui’s relationship, and he still knew despite almost two decades later. Junmyeon looked surprised, though, when he saw the alpha come in the room, a bunch of bananas in his hands. 

Yifan bowed down to Junmyeon. “Hello, Junmyeon, nice to see you again,” he said while handing the bananas to Junmyeon. 

“Oh, for ...me?” Junmyeon asked, slowly taking the bananas from Yifan. “Thanks.”

Yifan smiled. He didn’t look scary at all. Yifan also bowed down to Jeonghan and greeted, to which Jeonghan merely smirked. Junmyeon wasn’t going to hear the end of this.

“Nice to see you, Yifan, what brings you here?” Jeonghan asked, crossing his arms.

“I thought, well…” Yifan hid his arms behind his back. “I didn’t know if Junmyeon liked bananas, but I thought he would like them.”

Jeonghan suddenly jumped up from his seat. “I’m one step closer to my fruit tarts!”

“When am I _ ever _going to try them,” Junmyeon asked. “You always talk about them.”

“You know it was my plan to make your father fall in love with me,” Jeonghan explained. 

“Yeah, well, they got me fired,” Seungcheol said. “Apparently, not liking kiwis is a royal crime.”

“We need _ kiwis _though,” Jeonghan said. 

Yifan spoke up. “You guys want kiwis?”

“Yeah, kiwis.” Jeonghan took the bananas from Junmyeon and placed them on the countertop to act as decoration for now. They had less than a week to eat it, though, before it turned black. “Strawberries, bananas, kiwis, blueberries and blackberries. The perfect fruit combination.”

“What about raspberries? I thought they were part of it,” Junmyeon said.

Jeonghan widen his eyes and then slammed his head against the counter. “I’m forgetting my own recipe! It’s been so long!” 

Yifan laughed. “My dad always has kiwis, I can probably smuggle some, lie and say it’s for Chanyeol or something,” he said. 

Jeonghan lifted his head. “You don’t know how grateful I am to be in your presence, you are welcomed here anytime.”

“Eomma, you’re so weird-” Junmyeon said but Jeonghan shushed him. 

“You have no right to speak, you’ve never tried them.” Jeonghan said. 

Yifan smiled. This was a nice family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW THE PLOT IS SLOW IDGAF (actually i do) bUT ANYWAYS
> 
> things are about to go downhill  
(always let me know if theres a specific ship here you want to see more of)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayooooo shit's about to go down
> 
> ALSO! the next chapter to be publish, chapter 5, you will see a change in tags! don't be alarmed, i'm adding, not subtracting

** _*** 18 years ago ***_ **

“I feel like Junhui is trying to kill me,” Minghao was rambling again. “Look at him, he looks so hot in that jacket!”

Jeonghan was eating his fruit tart, the third one. Minghao already ate his share, so if Jeonghan sees him grab another one he was going to smack him. “Minghao, if I found your crush hot, you wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of your life.”

“True, true, but you know he’s good looking.” Minghao looked at his plate, only covered in crumbs. “Hey, Jeong-”

“Nope.” Jeonghan grabbed his last tart and took a bite. “I’m mad at you for last time.”

Minghao pouted. “I said I was sorry.” 

Jeonghan rolled his eyes and handed it to Minghao. “You’re going to help me later.” 

Minghao took it and stuff it his mouth, chewing it really fast before swallowing and saying to Jeonghan, “sure, you’re conquest for Seungcheol must be underway.”

Jeonghan smiled. “He is a nice bodyguard.” 

“Kind of stiff when he’s working, but chill otherwise.” Minghao shrugged. “They’re always like ‘it’s my job to protect the royal family’ and I’m like ‘try to stop me eating detergent!’”

“Please don’t eat detergent,” Jeonghan said. “You’re my best friend, you’re prohibited of dying.”

“Whatever you say, Prince of Kaeleous,” Minghao said. “Yo, I think they’re going to make me go back to China next week for the Lunar festival, can you make me mooncakes?”

“I hereby shall declare it made,” Jeonghan said, earning a laugh from Minghao. “I can make you mooncakes, but I can’t promise that I won’t eat any.”

“Hey that’s not fai- oh my gosh, Junhui is taking off his shirt!” 

** _*** Present ***_ **   
  


Some guy was stalking him. 

Shin was just trying to get some bamboo like normal but he kept hearing footsteps behind him. It was really odd; maybe Seyong was trying to prank him again. He wouldn’t last this long before scaring him, though. 

Shin turned around and saw a guy who immediately jumped. “You, you!” 

“Me?” Shin asked. “What did I do? Who are you, anyways?”

“Takuya,” he said. “Exploring.”

He was not Korean, Shin realized, but he knew a few Chinese phrases. Maybe he could make this guy feel comfortable. “What’s your name?” he asked in Mandarin. 

The guy said “no, no Chinese.”

Wait, was language was he speaking? Thai or English? Shin didn’t know those languages. 

“What language do you speak, then?” Shin asked. 

“Japanese,” he said. “I am from Japan.”

That left Shin perplexed. What the hell was a Japan, anyways? 

“Well, okay, Mr. I-am-from-Japan but can you  _ not  _ follow me?” Shin said. “I need to pick some bamboo for later-”

“Bamboo,” the guy said. “I can pick bamboo.”

“Well ... actually, what’s your name?” Shin asked. 

“Takuya.” 

“Well, Takuya, are you going to help me get bamboo or not?”   
  
***

“So I have bad news,” Taehyung said when he entered the living room. 

“If you ruined the potato slices, we’re not going to be friends anymore.” 

Taehyung hid the basket behind his back. “No, I haven’t made them yet.” 

“Good.” Hakyeon was on the floor, trying to weave bamboo strands. “This is harder than I thought.” 

Taehyung inched his way into the kitchen and tossed out the potato slices before proceeding to grab new potatoes. “I thought Taekwoon always did those.”

“Yeah, and guess who’s mom found out.” Hakyeon groaned and threw the bamboo strands on the floor. “I don’t know how Taekwoon persuades her not to get me in trouble.”

“It could be worse,” Taehyung said as he started peeling a new potato. 

“Always could,” Hakyeon whispered under his breath. “Probably cause if she grounded me she thinks that Leo will break up with me or something.”

Taehyung nodded as he continued to peel the potato. “She’s already asking for grandkids, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how she’s going to get them if Leo doesn’t want any kids,” Hakyeon said, grabbing another bamboo strand. “I hate making baskets, this is so stressful.”

Taehyung put down his potato. “Wait, Leo doesn’t want kids?” 

Hakyeon shook his head. “Nope. None. Which is why he makes a face everytime she asks about it. He always gets in a bad mood afterwards.” 

“But, wait,” Taehyung came from the kitchen and stood in front of Hakyeon. “He doesn’t know that you want kids? About treating them differently than how your mother did?”

Hakyeon shrugged. “It’s fine. I can’t just force him.”

Taehyung nodded and walked back to the kitchen. “Your mother is going to be so pissed when she finds out.”    
  
***

“I hate this game,” Mark Tuan said, throwing the branch on the ground. “It’s too complicated.”

“That’s what a loser would say,” Chen Le said before running to avoid Mark hitting him. 

The four of them (well five - Jimin brought Yoongi along but he was just sitting down) were playing a game in their usual spot in the forest. Mark had been losing, unsurprisingly, but Baekhyun was for some reason in the lead. 

“Can we take a break,” Chen Le said. “Mark hit my foot and I think he bruised it.”

“That’s something a loser would say,” Mark repeated. 

“Mark, we  _ are  _ the losers,” Baekhyun said. “In the whole village. Your argument is invalid.”

“Well that means  _ one  _ of us is the biggest loser in the whole village,” Mark said. “Thanks for making us feel better.”

“We’re not losers!” Jimin shouted. “Don’t call yourself that.” 

Yoongi got up from the floor and brushed off his pants. “Hold up, let me get ready before I beat your ass.”

“Yoongi, don’t do that,” Jimin said, making his boyfriend sit back down. “No one needs to get their butt kicked.”

Mark tried to walk up to Yoongi, struggling to get out of Chen Le’s reach. “Ima beat  _ your  _ ass, see how you like it."

“Mark you can’t threaten an alpha!” Baekhyun yelled. 

“I can do whatever I put my mind to!”

“Okay, no one is kicking anyone!” Jimin shouted, only to be pulled back down by Yoongi who enclosed him in a hug. 

“Jimin, they’re just messing with you,” Yoongi said. “I can’t even do a jumping jack.”

“Aren’t alphas supposed to be strong, though?” Mark said, still trying to shake off of Chen Le. That guy always tried to stop him from something every 10 seconds. “Make us cower in fear? Prove your dominance or some shit?”

“Mark, don’t anger him,” Baekhyun whispered. 

Yoongi only shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck at this point.”

“Mark, can you stop pushing your cliches on everyone for ten seconds!?” Chen Le yelled. “That’s what gave us the loser label in the first place!”

“Jimin, maybe you should bring your friends some tea,” Yoongi offered, earning a grumble ‘behave’ from his boyfriend he marched back into the clearing to go to his house real quick. 

“Why did you kick him out?” Chen Le asked. 

“I need to ask your opinion on something,” Yoongi explained, taking out a small porcelain box from his pocket. “What’s your opinion on this?” 

He opened the hinge box to reveal a small ring inside, covered in dark blue jewels all over the band. 

“Wait a second, are you-are you  _ what?! _ ” Mark screamed. 

Baekhyun’s eyes went wide. “A proposal?”

“Yeah, to be official mates,” Yoongi explained. He closed the box and put it back into his pocket. “Do you think Jimin will like it?”

“Like it? Boy he’ll  _ love  _ it,” Mark said. “You’re  _ actually  _ going to propose to him?”

Yoongi nodded. “Do you guys think I should wait, or-”

“No, he’ll  _ love  _ to marry you!” Chen Le said. “He’ll say yes, Yoongi, you don’t know the type of conversations we have with each other. He will say yes, promise, but make it romantic!”

Mark marched up to Yoongi’s face and leaned forward, making Yoongi lean back. “You better, and I mean  _ better,  _ not hurt our Jimin.”

Yoongi didn’t flinch, nor broke eye contact. “When have I ever?”

“Wait, so can you do it quick by the end of this week so that we can help him plan the wedding-” Chen Le said before being interrupted by-

_ Jimin _ . 

“Hey, what did you say, plan what wedding?” Jimin, who was still a good amount of feet away, jogged quickly to where the group was, tea in hand. “Whose wedding are we planning?!” He yelled, a smile on his face. 

Yoongi stared dumbly at his future mate while Mark took it as a chance to say, “We want Baekhyun to date that alpha he met earlier.”

Jimin pouted while pouring a cup of tea for Chen Le. “I thought it was real.”

“No worry, baby, there might be a wedding soon,” Yoongi reassured him, Chen Le trying to stifle a laugh. 

“Jeez, I wonder who it will be-”

“Why do you guys say I need to be with Chanyeol?” Baekhyun said. “What do you see in him?”

“We’re just playing,” Mark said. 

“Look, Baek, know that we will support if or who you get married to,” Jimin said, sitting next to Baekhyun as he poured him some tea. “You know what I hate? When the elders say that starting a family is with a mate and your kids. We’re family too, right? It’s not just going to be me and Yoongi, right, Yoongi?”

Yoongi jumped from his seat after hearing his name, not paying attention as he was trying to think was romantic way he could propose to Jimin. “Yeah, right,” he said, staring at his love. “You’re always right.”

“Not always,” Jimin says. “Just follow your heart.”

“Well,  _ my  _ heart doesn’t like Jackson,” Mark said, earning a smack from Chen Le. “Hey! What was that for?”

“Shut up,” Chen Le hushed him. “Can’t you-nevermind, you’re stupid.”

“I’m not stupid, I’m a loser. There’s a difference.”   
  


***   
  
There was a village meeting on Friday. 

Seungcheol always went to the meetings, but he always stood in the back, mask covering his face. He didn’t care if he looked suspicious; the handful of higher up officials who knew about him let him do what he pleased. The important thing was that people won’t recognize him. 

But that wouldn’t work for them anymore. 

On Friday, two of those officials asked Seungcheol to help him with a shipment, so he couldn’t go attend the meeting. By village rule, at least one person from each household, alpha or omega, should attend the meetings. Meaning Jeonghan or Junmyeon had to go. 

Seungcheol was getting ready to leave as Jeonghan sat at the table, reassuring him. 

“I can risk getting in trouble, Jeonghan, but I can’t risk anything happening to you,” Seungcheol said, trying to change his mind. 

Jeonghan shook his head. “Seungcheol, I can defend myself, I wasn’t a princess who sat around and did nothing,” he said. “Besides, I doubt anyone here is from the kingdom and will recognize us.”

“Still, though,” Seungcheol said. “We don’t know  _ anything  _ about these villagers.”

“I’ll be  _ fine,  _ Cheollie,” Jeonghan said. “And if something  _ does  _ happen, it won’t be your fault, okay?”

“That’s not reassuring-”

Jeonghan got out of his seat and started to push Seungcheol out of the door. “Go to what you were asked, you can complain to them. But  _ I  _ got a meeting to attend to.”

“But Jeong-”

“Why is it so important that you go to the meetings?” he questioned him. “Don’t say because you’re alpha or because you need to protect me-”

“I’m trying to protect the three of us,” Seungcheol said. “You know I never cared about status.”

“Good! So-hey, give me a kiss before you go.” He got on his tiptoes and looked away, waiting for the peck on his cheek. 

Seungcheol sighed before leaning down to kiss him. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?” he said to his husband. “And take Junmyeon with you, I don’t want any of you to be alone.”

Jeonghan nodded. “It’ll do him some good, now  _ goooooo _ -” he pushed Seungcheol until the other  _ finally  _ walked out of the house, giving Jeonghan a flying kiss before turning back and heading his way towards the center. 

Jeonghan closed the door and shouted for Junmyeon. “JUNMYEON! GET DRESSED, WE’RE HEADING OUT!”

A few seconds later he could hear Junmyeon walk down the stairs. “I didn’t hear you, what did you say?”

“I said we’re going out,” Jeonghan said. “We’re going to attend one of the town meetings.”

Junmyeon’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what?”

“Your father is expected somewhere, so we have to take his position,” he explained. “Now get dressed, we’ll leave in a few, okay?”   
  
***

The town hall was full of people. 

Junmyeon stayed close to Jeonghan’s side, clutching his arm as his mother weaved his way through the crowd. They were trying to find a seat as far away from the podium as possible, but it was no use; they were going to have to sit in the middle section. 

A lot of the people here were alphas (understandable, since they outnumbered the population) but there was a bit of omegas here, too; most of them looked like they came with their parents. As far as Jeonghan could tell, though, he was only of the only ones who came without an alpha. 

“If they start discriminating, we’re walking the fuck out of here,” Jeonghan whispered to Junmyeon as they sat down, sitting right next to the aisle. “I don’t know how bad it is in this village, but I’m not risking it. Pretend you have a stomachache.”

Junmyeon nodded to Jeonghan’s orders. “But you’re the better liar tho-”

They were interrupted by the sound of a gavel hitting the podium. That’s when they saw the chief, Xuheng, gavel in his hand. Last time Jeonghan had seen him was years ago, probably not a good thing, but he had to respect the man, after all; he was the one who went against everyone and let them stay here when they ran away and came here all those years ago. 

“Attention, everyone.” he said, shushing the crowd. “The town meeting will now commence."

The chief and the other officials went over news reports for the week. Discussed about imports, taxes, etc. A waste of time, in Jeonghan’s opinion, considering how he stayed inside all day. 

Then the topic shifted. Hyunsuk got up to the center and started talking about the omegas. 

“It has come to our attention that there aren’t any pairs in the new generation,” he said. “And the majority of the vote last week dictates that we will help create pairs.”

Wait, did he just say they are going to start wedding people together?

“A vote?” Junmyeon whispered to us. “Dad didn’t tell us about any vote.”

“He said they pulled him out to discuss some labor thing, but why would he miss the whole thing? Unless it was deliberate-” Jeonghan stopped mid sentence when he realized what Seungcheol had talked about last week. He said he didn’t understand why they pulled him out to talk about something they had already discussed-

“Junmyeon, try to make yourself not seen,” Jeonghan said, pushing Junmyeon back. “I don’t want them to spot you.”

Junmyeon didn’t know why until he heard what Hyunsuk said next. 

“Which omegas are to be paired next?” he said to the crowd. 

The crowd gave mixed signals. 

A large majority of the alphas there present thought it was a good idea. They showed smiles on their faces and whispered excitedly to their friends next to them, while most omegas, mainly the teens, showed horror on their faces. 

Jeonghan was no exception. Seungcheol has talked to him about how the officials would step in and start putting people together if the birth rates were getting real low, but he never believed it. It was just absurd, why makes them think they have the authority to do so?

That’s why Jeonghan understood why so many of the omegas sat in the back. They were just omegas and and their children, no alpha in sight. When he walked by them earlier, he heard some speak in Chinese, a language he hasn’t heard in years. As royalty he had to learn a lot of languages, but was surprised that there were Chinese here. 

_ A lot of them immigrant from China,  _ Seungcheol told him once during their earlier years here.  _ They pay taxes and obey laws and stuff like everyone else, but it’s hard for them to have a say in anything since they never really learn Korean.  _

There really was discrimination here. 

“Some people are already in relationships, though,” an alpha popped up from the crowd. “I don’t think this is really necessary.”

“How many relationships are there, like three?” An alpha teen got up from his seat in the front and looked back at the audience. “Three for this whole village?”

“Actually,” another alpha, one smaller than usual, got up from the ground along with an omega by his side, the two linking hands. “Jimin and I are engaged, don’t drag people into this mess.”

“After who knows how long,” someone else chimed in. 

An intimidating alpha who was seated near the back stood up. “There’s no good in deciding for others, it’s never a positive result.” 

“As if he didn’t fuck Taeyong from an earlier age,” the alpha sitting next to them whispered under his breath. “Their kids are enough proof.”

Jeonghan grabbed Junmyeon and pulled him closer to him, scooting him away from the man. 

“The people who voted for basically stripping omegas rights away from them are the assholes who can’t get a date,” an omega said, causing people to give him weird looks. “Maybe if they were  _ nicer,  _ then we wouldn’t be in this dilemma-”

“Shush, omega, that’s not how you’re supposed to act,” an elder sitting near the front said. 

“Why don’t we just vote on an omega one by one?” An omega mother said from the back. “Give us a say, too.” 

“Yeah, this omega right here looks fertile enough,” the man next to them said, pointing at Junmyeon. “Never seen him before, he looks good enough.”

_ Shit _ . 

“Don’t drag my son into this mess,” Jeonghan said out loud. “He has nothing to do with you guys wicked games.”

“You guys think you’re so special sitting near the edge of the village,” an omega piped up. “But you guys need to contribute like the rest of us.”

“Make him get mated first, they don’t contribute anything!” Someone behind them said. 

Soon, everyone was chiming in with their own opinions, some even starting to get up to try to surround them. Jeonghan grabbed Junmyeon tighter, telling them all, “get the  _ fuck  _ away from us.”

“Why should our sons be married off and not yours, huh?” An omega mother yelled at him. “What are you, a princess or something? Let him go first!”

An alpha who was sitting in the front row got up. Jeonghan recognized him to be-

“Get  _ away  _ from my fiance,” Yifan said in a low voice. 

He walked to where Jeonghan and Junmyeon were, making people get out of the way as he went to stand beside them. “You guys need to stop attacking any single omega on your sight, it’s getting old.”

“Yifan, what’s the meaning of this,” Hyunsuk said. “Since when are you engaged?”

“We’ve been seeing each other for a while and I wanted it to be a surprise,” Yifan said. “And you guys ruined it, I hope your happy. We were planning an engagement announcement party next week.”

Some alphas from the front stood up. “We’re the best men!” one of them with large ears shouted. “He said the wedding will take place in a few months.”

The crowd calmed down, stunned that the official’s son had already found a mate. 

“The engagement party shall be held this week,” Xuheng said, “and the wedding date will be announced then. Please wish luck to my son and his future mate.”   
  


***

Yifan took the two to a room in the back after the meeting, praying that they won’t kick his ass. He did the first thing that he could think of, which was, unfortunately, declare Junmyeon as his. 

“Look, I’m sorry, I couldn’t think of anything,” he tried to explain to them. “It’s just when the villagers get aggressive like that, bad stuff comes out of it, and the officials would have listened to them on their demand-”

“It’s fine,” Junmyeon said, not wanting to look at Yifan in the eye. “Thank you.”

“So how long is this ‘fake engagement’ going to last?” Jeonghan said. He had no problem of Junmyeon marrying Yifan, but knowing how this was something neither of them wanted, it wouldn’t be good for them to continue with it. 

“Give me a month,” Yifan pleaded. “I can make it go away. Hopefully by then other people get mated soon.”

  
Jeonghan sighed. “I guess you should visit us more often, then. But don’t you  _ dare  _ hurt my son.”

***

“Hey, Mark, wait up!” He heard someone shout in the distance. 

He shrugged, continuing to walk. They were probably calling for Mark L-

“Tuan!”

Or not. 

He turned around and wasn’t surprised to find Jackson calling out for him. He was surprised, however, to find a fellow Jinyoung close behind him. 

“Mark! Hey Mark, you’ve met Jinyoung, right?” Jackson said, gesturing to Jinyoung beside him. 

Mark  _ really  _ wanted to tell Jackson to fuck off, but Jinyoung was a nice person and he couldn’t be rude to him, so instead, he said, “Yeah, nice to see you, Jinyoung.” 

“Hey, sorry for Jackson here,” Jinyoung said, earning a loud “hey!” from the latter. “But I wanted to ask you guys for a favor.” 

Favor for what? “Depends. What is it?”

“Well, you see,” he said, “there’s this really nice cake that Jaebum likes, one that uses mango and grapefruit, but I’m not really, you know, good at baking. I was wondering if you could help?”

“I would have helped him myself, but cakes aren’t really my thing,” Jackson explained. “ _ But  _ Chen Le told me you make some good ones, so I thought I would recommend him to you.”

“Oh, uh,” this was unexpected. “Sorry, I would help, but I can’t at the moment.” 

“That’s okay!” Jackson said. “We understand. Well, see you later, Mark!” He walked away, Jinyoung following him behind. “Take care."

Mark turned to leave around, but then, faintly, he heard Jinyoung talk to Jackson. “Do you know anyone else who can bake a cake?” 

“Nope, sorry, Mark was my only hope,” Jackson lamented. “But I’m sure we’ll find someone. Maybe one of the adults? I don’t know."

“I spent a lot on the mango and grapefruit, I don’t want them to rot.” Jinyoung sighed. “You know how much Jaebom loves that stuff."

They soon got out of earshot, chatting between the two, when Mark started to feel guilty. He didn’t like Jackson, not at  _ all, _ but Jinyoung-

He turned around and shouted, “hey, guys, I think I’ll be able to!” 

Both turned to look at him, confused. “You can?!” Jinyoung screamed back. 

“Give me a day or two!” Mark continued. “I’ll find my recipe.”

“Oh, okay!” Jinyoung waved at him. “Thank you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm adding two more ships in the tags since i got interested; i know others are to be included later in the story but these two will be in chap five  
ALSO! if you feel like you want to see more of a particular ship (ex. you think i don't have enough jaeyong or some shit idk) let me know, i can always add it! chap 5 and six are in progress, i might add it in there


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! The reason why I updated this early is because there won't be another update until mid january. Winter break is coming up and I won't have a chance to do any writing (college student here) so I'm giving you guys plenty to read for now. I'll try to do a last update on the other fanfics

** _***18 Years Ago***_ **

“Aha! I won again!” Junhui exclaimed, throwing his last card down. “I told you guys you can’t beat me!” 

Minghao put down his cards and pouted. “No fair. Why do you get to win every time?”

“Because I’m the best,” Junhui said, “and you love me, of course.”

Minghao’s face turn red, Jeonghan trying to stifle a laugh. Junhui was always making comments like this. At this rate, he was going to flat out ask him to marry him, and Jeonghan was going to enjoy every second of it. 

Jeonghan reached out to take the cards and reshuffle them. “Junhui, do you know what time Seungcheol gets here?”

“Oh, the bodyguard you’re in love with?” he said. Now it was Jeonghan’s turn for his face to become red. “He comes in an hour, I think? I don’t know, that’s when I have to teach again.”

Junhui, liked Seungcheol, also worked in the palace, but his position was an instructor. He was one of the best ones in the kingdom, despite his age, so he was asked to work here to train. Jeonghan got lessons from him sometime, and when Minghao started to stay here for longer periods of time, the king (or Jeonghan’s dad) pushed him to get lessons as well. Thus Minghao shows up and sees a hot instructor showing him different stance positions and he fell in love. 

It was nice of Junhui to hang out with them, even though he was a bit older. Jeonghan even considered him as a friend, making the three of them a trio. Junhui had work so they didn’t see him as often as they saw each other, but it was still constantly. 

As for Seungcheol, though, Jeonghan never got to spend time with him. He’s never actually had a proper conversation with the man. The only facts that he knew of him were from watching him from afar. Seungcheol displayed many acts of kindness, Jeonghan had seen, from helping the maids and cooks to always putting his safety second and protecting anyone at all costs, no matter what they’re status. And each passing day, Jeonghan fell in deeper. 

“I want to make him fruit tarts, you know, try to be nice and struck up a conversation,” Jeonghan explained to him. “But I don’t know when I’ll see him next.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Junhui said, supporting him. “I’m sure he’ll love them.” 

“Yeah but you have to make me some,” Minghao said, earning a whack on his head. “Hey, what was that for?!”

“Minghao, why do you even ask permission at this point, you’ll eat it anyways.”

***

Jeonghan was the prince of Kaeleous, or “princess” as they liked to call him, due to his long hair and his status as omega. Back in the old days, many terms were separated between sex, like mother and father, but were now seperated by status. 

But, yeah, Jeonghan was royalty. So what. He was just like all those other rich people who sat around all day and did nothing while munching on the whole food supply of the kingdom. Although Jeonghan looked kind of skinny. Maybe he felt that eating was for peasants. Who knows.

Seungcheol  _ hates  _ him. 

He  _ hates  _ Jeonghan with all his heart. Well, Seungcheol liked to believe he had a heart, more than Jeonghan, that’s for sure.

Yeah, so Jeonghan was nice to the entire population. People praised him as the best prince(ss) they have ever had. Jeonghan constantly went out in public to try to give money and food to people he saw in need and, from Seungcheol overheard two main guards talking, was planning on improving the conditions of the orphanages, which struck a nerve inside Seungcheol. 

There was no  _ way  _ a royal would be this nice. It was obvious that Jeonghan wasn’t a genuine person. 

And, of course, they had to appear during his training session. They were taking turns doing hand-to-hand combat when Seungcheol saw Jeonghan and his friend, Prince Minghao of the China Kingdom, second-in-line to the throne, the two of them sitting together and staring at Junhui. 

Seungcheol liked Junhui, he was a cool guy. However, he was friends with Jeonghan and Minghao, which made sense he supposed; who  _ doesn’t  _ want to be friends with a royal and be on their side, no matter how fake they are? Seungcheol wouldn’t be able to do it, he wouldn’t last, but he admired Junhui’s dedication. 

He was able to see that Jeonghan was carrying a box in his hands, holding it protectively. Seungcheol has seen him hand out food to all the workers here from time to time, so he was probably doing it again. 

When it was his turn to combat Junhui, he was, thankfully, able to release some of his anger.

***

“There they are, quick, Minghao, they’re going to leave soon!” Jeonghan said, running with the box in his hands up to where one of the members of the Royal Guard was leading some of the bodyguards. 

“You are, I repeat,  _ whipped  _ for this man,” Minghao told him, running to catch up with Jeonghan. “And you won’t even give me a fruit tart! That’s how I know you have it bad!”

Jeonghan caught up with the Royal Guard member. “Good afternoon, Sir Siwon.”

Siwon bowed down, the bodyguards also following suit. “Good afternoon, your-”

“Can we, like, not do that here,” Minghao said. “We already told the palace you guys can drop the formalities."

“Sorry,” Siwon said. “It’s out of habit, you know everyone here is to trained to treat you with respect.”

“Welp, that’s the first thing I’m going to change when I’m king,” Jeonghan said. He heard one of the bodyguards scoff but he couldn’t pinpoint where. “Anyways, I made fruit tarts if you guys wanted any.”

He opened the box, and the bodyguards got in line to take one. Jeonghan’s pastries were well-known across the kingdom; he once baked all the mooncakes for the Lunar festival, and they immediately became a crowd favorite, selling out so often that they had to limit how many mooncakes each person could buy. 

All the bodyguards got their fruit tarts, except for one.

“Um, Seungcheol, do you want any?” Jeonghan said, extending the box towards Seungcheol. 

Seungcheol made a face. “Ew, no, fruit tarts are disgusting. Especially if they have kiwis on top."

Jeonghan made a disappointed face, bringing the box closer to him again. What, did he think that was going to persuade Seungcheol? He thought. 

Siwon gave him a look but didn’t say anything, instead, reaching out to grab another one. “Jeonghan, you really do live up to your name as the best baker in the kingdom.”

“It’s not that good, it’s just the sugar masking it.” Jeonghan tried to deny it. “But I’m glad most of you guys liked it.” 

He bid them farewell, saying goodbye to everyone before he and Minghao walked away, the two of them walking in silence until they reached the end of the hall, where they started whispering. 

When they left, that’s when Seungcheol got the biggest scolding of his life.

** _***Present***_ **

When Si Cheng came back to the room after the town meeting, Yuta could see the fright in his eyes. 

He had been talking to Takuya about leaving soon. They had been here for enough time and weren’t cooperating in anything. Plus, it wouldn’t be long until they will be found again, and it wouldn’t be ideal to put Si Cheng and his mother at risk. Takuya agreed, but Yuta could see that he looked disappointed. Did something good happen when he went outside to walk the other day? 

Si Cheng came in right when Yuta was going to ask Takuya, muttering a hi to the two of them before setting down some of his stuff. 

“Hey, how did the meeting go?” Yuta asked.

“Well, depends on your point of view,” Si Cheng said. “For alphas, it must have been  _ great  _ news for those who can afford it. For omegas, the end of our fucking lives.”

That took him by surprise. Omegas don’t usually curse, especially not Si Cheng. “What did the alphas do?” Yuta asked. 

Si Cheng sighed. “They want to start marrying us off.”

Yuta’s eyes went up. “Wait, what? You guys do that here?”

“I-I mean I know cases where they’ve done it,” Si Cheng explained, “but to the whole population? I don’t know, a lot of alphas started chipping in who would be a good omega to marry off and-and I don’t know. I don’t want to be next.” 

“But-but why do they do that?” Yuta asked. “Who gave them permission to just marry random people off? Do they think they own y’all or some shit?”

“Well, it’s just a rule they have here,” Si Cheng said. “And you know about rules-”

“Bullshit, it’s not their life,” Yuta said. “If you want to be a 50-year-old single omega than that’s ok. If you don’t want kids that’s ok. What makes them think they can just waltz in your life and make you sleep with some asshole?”

Si Cheng sighed. “I don’t know, that’s how they run things.”

“Well, they shouldn’t.”   
  
***

“I’m not making a move on Kihyun until you make a move on Taehyung,” Shownu told Jungkook at night. 

Everyone else decided to stay at home and freak out over what just happened at the meeting, which a lot of people had decided to do. For one, their friend group had no idea when Yifan had gotten himself a fiance (Shownu already knew he was trying to impress Junmyeon, but still), but they pretended they knew what was going on in the meeting. Some of the officials tried to corner them but they just said that as to Yifan’s wishes, they wouldn’t reveal anything. 

Course, Yifan told them the truth later after he talked to Junmyeon and his mom, but the position remained; they were all best men now. 

A lot of them had crushes but wouldn’t make a move, but now that the officials were going to pair their sons with the pretty omegas first, they were now all terrified that they wouldn’t get the chance to be with their crush. 

The meeting had turned wild when the omegas were brought up. However, a lot of people were, thankfully, trying to oppose the situation. Especially Mark Tuan, even though he isn’t really loved by the elders. Many alphas admired him, though, that he didn’t want to fit in status norms, but yet he didn’t ridicule those who did fit in traditional roles. Jackson Wang still remained his number one admirer though, for obvious reasons. 

While those in their friend group decided to mull about it (especially Chanyeol - he went home crying, claiming how since Baekhyun was the prettiest omega, they were going to take him away first), Shownu and Jungkook had a different idea. 

“I can’t make a move on Taehyung now!” Jungkook said. “He looked confused when I saw him that one time and I don’t want to scare him off.”

“Well, I can’t ask Kihyun now!” Shownu said. “He’s just over there, picking fruit like his usual business, I don’t want to scare  _ him  _ off!”

Jungkook sighed and put his hands on Shownu’s shoulder. “Look man, you might be embarrassed now, but a few years from now, when you wake up and see his face in the money and your kids jump on you bed making you fall and get a concussion and then you can’t move for a week and you miss your birthday party-”

“Jungkook, where you going off with this?”

“-my point is, that you’ll look back at this and think that this is  _ nothing  _ compared to the future that you’re going to have with him,” Jungkook finished. “Now, go and tell Kihyun that you like him, or I’ll tell Yifan that you don’t want to be in his wedding.”

“But he-fine. Fine! I’ll do it. I’ll ask Kihyun out. I’ll ask him out. I’m going to tell the  _ whole  _ world that I,  _ I,  _ Shownu, am in love with Kihyun!! I’m in love with him!!!”

“Um, Shownu, can you keep it down a bit-”

“No I’m not! I am going to tell the  _ whole world  _ that I, Sho-no, wait, Sohn Hyunwoo-”

“Hyunwoo? What’s that?” Jungkook asked. 

Shownu turned to give him a look. “That’s my real name.”

Jungkook laughed. “I thought Shownu was your real name! I’m going to call you Hyunwoo for now on.”

“What? No don’t do-actually, whatever because I AM IN LOVE WITH KIHYUN!” Shownu screamed…

...causing Kihyun to to stop what he was doing and stare at Shownu.

“Me?” he mouthed to the two of them, pointing at himself.

“I told you so,” Jungkook said to the latter, who face was now turning into an interesting hue of red, more like purple. Was he-was he not breathing? “Hey, Shownu, are you still alive?”

“He-he-” Shownu pointed to Kihyun, who was still staring at him. 

“Yo, my friend likes you!” Jungkook shouted, earning a chorus of no’s from Shownu beside him. “Can he court you?”

Even though it was dark outside due to being night, Shownu could see Kihyun stare at the ground, a small smile forming on his face. Shownu almost wanted to explode. 

“He’ll take you to dinner tomorrow at noon!” Jungkook kept yelling. Shownu finally moved to shut Jungkook up with his hand. 

“Haha, yeah, see ya Kihyun!” Shownu shouted, waving his free hand to the omega who waved back and started to leave. “What the fuck, Jungkook?"

“Hey, I got you a date,” Jungkook said. “You’re going to thank me in a month.”

Shownu took his hand off Jungkook and frowned. “Fine. But now you got to ask Taehyung out.”

“What?! No I don’t-”

“I’m going out with Kihyun, so now it’s your turn to make a move!”   
  


***

He saw him again when he was going to go fishing. 

It was a few days after that dreaded meeting, and Johnny was desperately trying to put it in the back of his head. His mother was close to Baekhyun’s mother who comitted suicide years after dealing with her shitty alpha husband, and now Baekhyun and his brother lived alone. It was one of the biggest news that has ever happened in the village. 

Johnny knew that this wasn’t going to be a good idea. He wouldn’t even be with someone he liked if they didn’t like them back, did you really love them if you wanted them to go through tortue like that for the rest of their life?

He didn’t have a chance with Ten at all, though, so he enjoyed the little conversations they had here and there when they crossed paths, like now, for instance. 

Johnny had his nets and his basket, ready to go fish catching. He was walking down the usual trail when he heard someone behind him shout, “hey, wait for me!”

He turned around and saw Ten, the latter running towards him, basket in hand. “I thought you were leaving without me,” Ten said. 

Johnny couldn’t surressed his smile. “You know I would never do that to you,” he said.”   
  
***

“Jaehyun, right there-ah, ah, yes, yes, YES.”

“Don’t worry, baby,” Jaehyun said, rubbing his fingers over Taeyong’s nipples as he grinded down onto his partner’s crotch. “I know you love that, don’t you?”

“I-uh, I,” Taeyong grabbed onto Jaehyun’s next and pulled him closer to him. “Please Jaehyun, please.”

It was past midnight, their kids having already gone to bed (and after they waited for the usual Jian to wake up for his glass of water. It was a routine at this point.) It hasn’t happened yet, thank god, but the  _ last  _ thing they needed was for their kids to walk in on them. 

Taeyong had had his heat for the past few days, but this was the first time they were having sex during it. Taeyong always got a bit scared during his heats, not wanting to get pregnant again, not that he would mind. He just felt bad on how much Jaehyun had to work and he didn’t get to help, even if he did the household chores. 

Omega’s heat depended based on the group of people. In their village, the heats just made the omegas more emotional, hungrier and hornier, sometimes all three at once. Most of the time, they were just tired. In some rare cases, though, the only thing that could get them through the heats was sexual pleasure. However, heats were the only time where an omega could get pregnant, so Taeyong usually got wary during those times. 

Although he couldn’t deny that he was enjoying it right now. The way Jaehyun kept moving with him, how he was playing fondly with his nipples, made Taeyong want to scream, but he had to be quiet - he didn’t want to wake up his children, after all. 

Jaehyun stopped and reached for the waistband on Taeyong’s pants, pulling both his pants and his briefs down, leaving Taeyong completely naked. 

“Jaehyun, why do you get to still wear clothes?” Taeyong asked his lover, who was now peppering kiss all along Taeyong’s neck. 

“Hm, you want to see me naked, don’t you?” Jaehyun murmured into his ear, giving Taeyong goosebumps all over his arms. 

“Actually, yes,” Taeyong said, causing Jaehyun to laugh. “Laugh all you want, but I want to see your body, too.”

“Sure, I’ll strip for you, baby.” Jaehyun raised his shirt above his head, taking it off and throwing it on the floor. He undid his belt and push his pants and boxers off, kicking them off the bed. “There you go, baby.”

“Mmm.” Taeyong, out of instinct, wrapped his legs around Jaehyun’s waist, lifting himself up a bit. “Please make love to me.”

“Anything for you, baby,” Jaehyun said, throwing himself onto Taeyong as he grinded him against the mattress.   
  
***

He still didn’t have his memory. 

It was weird. When Kun tried to talk to him about something that happened in his past with his parents, Xiaojun would try to conjure up a thought, an experience similar to Kun’s or one that he can relate to, but his mind was… blank. 

Like now. Kun was telling Xiaojun how his mother taught him to make omelets with green onions and chives, and Xiaojun stopped paying attention to Kun, instead, trying to think if he had a mother. 

Kun must have sensed him blanking out because Kun stopped his story and turned to look at him. 

“You’ll memories will come back, don’t worry,” he tried to reassure him. “Don’t fret too much about it.”

Xiaojun nodded and went back to cutting the green onions, going slowly. He felt like didn’t have experienced in cooking before, weird considering how he was an omega. 

It was nice of Kun to take him in, considering how Xiaojun had no fucking skills in anything. He tried to help out Kun as much as he could, but it was a slow and agonizing process. 

He was going to have to get used to it, though. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm creating a multifandom groupchat if anyone wants to join! It'll be on instagram, just send me your name and I'll follow you and add you in 
> 
> ALSO! for all you Jaehyun and Taeyong shippers, there is this kpop group called Halo (check out here here, it's such a good song, yes it's two heres, or check out mariya) and one of the members is called.... Jaeyong


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its 5:13 am here, I wasn't able to sleep because IT WAS ANNOUNCED CHEN GOT HIS FIANCEE PREGNANT THATS BEEN KEEPING ME UP ALL NIGHT

Yifan came to Junmyeon’s house the next day, carrying his parcel in his hands.

He thought it was probably tiring that Junmyeon kept having to host him, so it would be a good idea to invite Junmyeon to his own home. Maybe ask one of the maids to cook something for him, show him the artifacts that his father, Chief Xuheng had collected.

Yifan has some of artifacts of his own. There were these slim boxes with pictures and words on it, and the inside would reveal shiny circles, all reflective on one side. Yifan had no idea what there were, probably stuff from the past before everything collapsed, but it would be cool to show Junmyeon.

There were also little packages that contained their own shiny circles, but they came with photo books of people on the cover. Apparently it contained music, which Yifan had no idea how. Must be magic.

He knocked on the door again, which was opened by Seungcheol this time. He doesn’t know how Seungcheol reacted to the “marriage” news.

Yifan had to figure out a way to get Junmyeon out of it, but yet also out of other arranged marriages. Yifan has always been against them, not liking how others weren’t allowed to love who they wanted. Why could the alphas pick and not omegas? It had to be mutual.

“Come in, oh, son-in-law of mine,” Seungcheol said, ushering Yifan inside. “Don’t you want to meet your fiancé?”

Was Seungcheol being sarcastic? Maybe he really was mad. Yifan hoped that he could explain the situation to him.

“Sir I’m really sorry-“ Yifan tried to say, before Seungcheol closed the door behind him. 

“Don’t worry about it, I think people were spying outside,” Seungcheol said. “Jeonghan told me what happened.”

Yifan still eyed him suspiciously but let it slide for now, okay with murder at this point. 

Seungcheol led him towards the living room, where Junmyeon and Jeonghan were peeling apples, who appeared to be in conversation. 

“Junmyeon, aren’t you going to kiss your fiancé hello?” Seungcheol teases, causing Junmyeon to blush and Jeonghan to raise an eye at him.

“Seungcheol, you know that’s not funny,” Jeonghan reminded his useless husband. “Hello, Yifan, How was your day today?” 

Yifan inches slowly towards the sofa, almost as if asking permission to sit there. “Pretty good, I hung out with my friends. How was you guys’ day?” he asked, shifting his focus to a quiet Junmyeon, who silently continued to peel apples. 

“ _ My  _ day was awful.” Jeonghan said. “Seungcheol, tell him what you did.”

Seungcheol grabbed a chair from the kitchen and brought it towards the living room, ignoring Jeonghan’s question. “Yifan, let me give you a word of advice.”

“Choi Seungcheol.”

_ Choi?  _ Why did he call him Choi? The family’s surname was Kim, Yifan tried to recall from what his father told him. 

Seungcheol sighed. “I drank his hibiscus tea again.”

Junmyeon tried to stifle a giggle but failed as Yifan could still hear traces of it. It was a cute giggle, he noticed. Really endearing.

“And was this not to replace the one you drank last time?” Jeonghan questioned his husband. 

“I’ll  _ make  _ some more, my love, I can’t help that it was delicious,” Seungcheol said. “Miss your fruit tarts by the way.”

“You never even liked them,” Jeonghan whispered under his breath, crossing his arms. 

“And  _ I  _ never got to try them,” Junmyeon said. “You only make my mouth water everytime you say that.”

The lightbulb in Yifan’s head went off. “This is actually for you, uh, Junmyeon, an-and for your parents,” he said, extending the parcel towards them. 

“Oh.” Junmyeon’s face turned pink as he reached out to grab the parcel, his tiny fingers curling around the parchment that was used to wrap it. “Thank you.”

“Is this the dowry?” Seungcheol joked, inching back on his chair when he saw Jeonghan give him the look again. 

Junmyeon carefully peeled away the sticky substance holding the parchment together and unwrapped it. It was-

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE KIWIS?!?!” Jeonghan leaped off the couch and stood in front of Junmyeon, bending down to look at the parcel more closely. “THEY ARE!!”

“Holy fuck, really?” Seungcheol said, getting off his chair to go to where they were standing. “And those-“

Junmyeon lifted up a small bamboo container that had different compartments, each filled with a different type of berry. “The red ones without the leaves, they’re raspberries, right?” He said, pointing at them.

“MY FRUIT TARTS!!” Jeonghan shrieked. “Junmyeon,  _ please  _ marry Yifan, the sooner the better!!” 

Seungcheol pouted. “I thought you said no wedding jokes,” he muttered. 

“Some of the officials came back from their trip yesterday, and I was able to sneak away some fruit,” Yifan explained. “Those are the ones needed for the fruit tarts, yes?”

“Yes, yes, oh my god, Seungcheol, get the dehydrated wheat crackers, I’ll start the filling.” Jeonghan ran towards the kitchen and started pulling ingredients out little makeshift fridge. “We got the cream cheese, milk, the one lime…”

“You don’t understand, he hasn’t made them over sixteen years,” Seungcheol explained to a startled Yifan, who was staring at Jeonghan who started grabbing this and that. “He still knows it by heart.”

Junmyeon met Jeonghan in the kitchen, where he delicately set the parcel on the countertop, almost as if it were glass. “There’s no secret ingredient that you don’t want to tell me, right?”

Jeonghan had grabbed his mixing bowl and was pouring all the wet ingredients first. “Nope! Exactly as I’ve told you all these years.” He took out the whisk and handed it to Junmyeon. “I’ve been waiting to teach you this all these years…”

***

“Hakyeon, look.” Taehyung pointed at figure walking slowly, about thirty feet from them. “There he is, the creepy guy.”

“Who, the one with the black hair?” Hakyeon grabbed another potato slice from the basket. They sure loved potatoes, it was their favorite snack. “The alpha, isn’t he, uh, Ju..Jung, I don’t know, I’m stupid. LEO!!” He shouted for Taekwoon, who refused to go by his real name. “CAN YOU COME HERE A SEC??”

Taekwoon came back with a blanket from the house, set it on Hakyeon’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Taekwoon wasn’t really a talkative person, form what Taehyung could tell, so when Hakyeon would tell him of conversations he’s had with his boyfriend, Taehyung found it hard to believe that Taekwoon can talk for an hour, much less argue with Hakyeon over the best way to cook an egg. 

Of course, he never said any of this outloud. It was just a judgement, it wasn’t true. Hakyeon always gushes about how funny Taekwoon was, how nice he was, and Taehyung refused to ruin that bubble for his friend. Just because Taekwoon  _ looked  _ scary didn’t mean he was.

And he was a cool guy, too. For an alpha, he was pretty good at bamboo weaving, even enjoyed it; he said it always let him calm down or de stress himself. He always did the weaving for Hakyeon or Taehyung, who suck at domestic chores. No wonder their parents hated them. 

At least Taehyung could cook a bit. However, his parents always said it wouldn’t be enough for his future alpha.

“Do you see that alpha, with the black hair and jacket?” Hakyeon asked Taekwoon.

“Who, Jungkook?” Taekwoon answered. “He’s chill, what about him?”

“He’s  _ chill?” _ Taehyung asked his best friend’s boyfriend. “He’s been giving me creepy looks for the past few weeks.”

Taekwoon made an  _ oh  _ face, looking away. 

“You know something, don’t you?” Hakyeon got up and stood on his tip toes, trying to reach Taekwoon’s height. “Tell me.”

Taekwoon sighed, knowing he had no way out of this one. Once Hakyeon had a suspicion, it was hard to disprove it. “I’ve heard him talk to other alphas about how he…well…”

“What, what’s wrong with him?” Taehyung asked, grabbing another potato slice, taking a bite.

“Uh…  _ well,  _ I guess you can say he has a slight…” Taekwoon started moving his hands, trying to explain himself. “Uh, I don’t know.” 

“Leo, you can tell us anything,” Hakyeon reminded him. 

“You know I don’t care for gossip, but since he mentioned Taehyung and he’s your friend,” Taekwoon continued. “Jungkook....he has a  _ slight  _ thing for Taehyung, like, uh-”

“He likes him,” Hakyeon concluded. 

Taekwoon put his hands down on his side, sighing. “I guess.”

“He-he  _ what?”  _ Taekhyung stared at him, wide-eyed, not believing what his best friend’s boyfriend just said. “That’s not...that’s not possible.” 

“It’s why he’s always staring at you,” Taekwoon explained. “It’s not out of malice.”

“Oooooooooh, Taehyung has a secret admirer~~” Hakyeon started singing. “He liiiiiiiikes you~”

“Hakyeon, he is  _ literally  _ right in front of the street!” Taehyung half-shouted, not wanting to give Jungkook a chance to hear him. Everyone heard Shownu’s screams the other day, and since he was holding hands with Kihyun today, well, they're assuming the two are together now. Wait till the elders found out. 

“Well, you have to prepare yourself for when he asks you out,” Hakyeon reminded him. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m not dating Jungkook!” Taehyung hushed him. “I don’t even know him!"

“Not to jump in your...discussion,” Taekwoon added. “But I think he might, well, I don’t know what his plans are but he might be the type of person who…”

“Who what, Leo?” Hakyeon asked him.

“...Um, is it, take it slow?” Taekwoon asked. “I don’t know much, sorry I’m not of use-”

“No, Leo, you’re doing great.” Hakyeon grabbed his boyfriend’s arm and led him to sit down. “Here, have a potato slice.”   
  


*** 

This was really awkward for Jisung. 

He’s been trying to bring himself to go to the boy’s house (Chen Le, is he could remember correctly) but all he could think about was how he accidentally beat up this sleeping kid and the shame would stop him from visiting. However, it’s already been a while, so now here he was, standing in front of the guy’s house. 

It was a really small place. Chen Le lived where the immigrant Chinese live. What made it weird, though, is that he had some Korean friends. A lot of the Chinese kept to themselves. 

He really wanted to bring some food, but meals were scarce in his house, so he decided to bring him a bag of cherries. Those were pretty rare, but Jisung had been saving up his coins and used them to buy it from the officials, who came back with more imports. 

Jisung has never tried a cherry in life, but maybe Chen Le liked them. Who knows.

He knocked on the door, waiting for a response. 

An alpha came to the door, a middle aged one. Probably Chen Le’s dad. “Hello? Who are you?” he asked Jisung in accented Korean. 

“Um, hello sir, I’m uh…” he didn’t like the father’s glare. “I’m Park Jisung, the oldest alpha from the-”

“Oh, how old are you?” the man asked him. 

“....Sixteen?” Jisung answered. What was with all the questions, anyways?

“Oh, you’re here to court Chen Le, right?” the father exclaimed."

“Uhhhhhh-” What was that about? Was it because of the town meeting that occurred recently?

“Sweetie, someone’s here to court Chen Le!” He screamed behind him to whoever was in the house.”

“Um, sir-” Jisung tried to interrupt him, but it was no use. 

“Someone for Chen Le??” A female in the house screamed back, then started shouting in some rapid Chinese.

“You can wait inside,” the man told Jisung. 

Jisung had no choice but to go inside, looking around. It was a really cramped space, he realized. There were a lot of kids playing around, probably Chen Le’s younger siblings. 

“Sorry about the mess, the kids love to play around,” the man said. “Make yourself at home.”

Jisung nodded, giving him a smile. He was getting creeped out. All he came here was to apologize profusely to Chen Le, say he would apologize for the rest of his life, and give him the cherries. That was the plan. 

He needed to figure a way out of this. 

“Uh, can I go to your washroom?” Jisung asked.

The man gave him directions, and Jisung hurried off, locking himself in the washroom. 

There was a small bucket of water, so he dipped his hands in them to splash his face. What was he doing here? Did they really think he was trying to court their son? Did a lot of people come to do that? 

He heard a lot of voices outside the washroom, so he hurried out, and there in a small, also cramped room, he saw Chen Le, rubbing his face as a female omega scolded him. 

“You are  _ not  _ going to ruin this,” the woman, who Jisung assumed to be Chen Le’s mother, told Chen Le. “You are going to go out there, act like a good omega, and hopefully develop a relationship with that man.”

“Mom, I don’t know any alphas, I-” Chen Le got another slap on his face from his mother. 

“Chen Le, don’t mess this up,” she reminded him. “Omegas don’t get to choose.”

Jisung walked away slowly, not wanting them to see him. 

So they were  _ those  _ types of parents. The ones that saw omegas lower in class than alphas, who thought that omegas should do everything an alpha told him to do. 

Those were the  _ worst  _ types of parents, Jisung thought to himself. Like… why would they think that. Omegas don’t  _ choose  _ to be omegas, yet they just get their rights stripped away like that? What could they  _ possibly  _ have done?

It was stupid, anyways. Omegas were the minority, here, couldn’t they pick whichever mate they wanted? There was an abundance of alphas, anyways, they had a lot of options. Jisung? Not so much. He already knew he would be single for life. 

Well, until now....

Chen Le’s parents would probably treat Chen Le worse if they thought a possible alpha turned the omega down. Who knows how many times  _ that  _ has happened. 

He walked back to the living room which was already cleaned up, surprisingly. The kids were all sitting on the floor, whispering to each other quietly. 

“Jisung, would you like something to drink?” the father asked him. 

Jisung was about to reject the offer when the mother came in, holding onto Chen Le’s arms. 

“Here’s Chen Le!” She exclaimed. “Chen Le, say hi to Jisung!”

Chen Le’s eyes went wide when he recognized Jisung, the guy who accidentally hurt him with the stick.

“He’s here to court you,” his father explained. “Right, Jisung?”

Jisung caught himself saying yes.   
  
***   
  
Mark Tuan was in Jinyoung’s house, pulling ingredients out of the cabinets to make the grapefruit and mango cake. 

“Thank you so much for helping me,” Jinyoung said while Mark pulled out a small satchel with flour. “I don’t really know how to bake a cake.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Mark said. “Where are your mixing bowls?” 

“Oh, here.” Jinyoung opened a cabinet door and pulled out a wooden bowl. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Mark said. “Take it that you don’t have any baking experience?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “None, really. I know I am an omega, but,” he shrugged his shoulders while looking down at the floor. “I’m not good at baking or cooking.” 

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being an omega and not knowing how to do those things,” Mark reassured him. “We shouldn’t know everything.”

Jinyoung nodded, opening one of the drawers and started pulling out random utensils. “You’re so cool,” he muttered under his breath.

Mark raised an eye. “Excuse me, what?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing!” Jinyoung waved his hands at Mark. “I just thought you were a cool person, you know?”

Mark frowned at him. “Since when? I’m an outcast.”

Jinyoung was taken outback. “What? No you’re not, a lot of people look up to you.” 

Mark squinted at him. Where was all this praise coming from? Was it because of the cake? “What do you mean?”

Jinyoung shrugged. “Well, I guess… a lot of omegas see you as the spokesmen for us. I don’t know. We’re just….”

“...scared,” Mark finished for him. 

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah. I guess. Omegas get hate for everything, and they just see us as, well-” 

“Sex objects?” 

“Yeah, see what I mean?” Jinyoung said. “You’re not afraid to say anything, you speak your mind, and I-I can’t.” 

Mark picked up the flour and started pouring it in the bowl. “You just got to show them that you don’t give a fuck.”

Jinyoung stared at the flour being poured the bowl, rubbing his arms up and down. “It's hard, since, well... you can’t notice, can you?”

Reaching for the eggs, Mark started cracking them to put in the bowl. He already accepted the idea that Jinyoung was going keep talked. Plus, Jinyoung admitted that he wasn’t good at baking. “Notice what?” he asked. 

Jinyoung clutched his right wrist, digging his fingernails into the skin. “Me.” 

Mark shrugged, confused. “Is there something I should notice? I get the feeling that you're asking me out.” 

“What? No no no, that’s not-no,” Jinyoung wrapped his arms around his chest. “You know I love Jaebum,” he whispered, not looking at Mark. “Actually, because of it…”

“Jinyoung, if you think I’m going to snitch you or something, don’t worry, do I  _ look  _ like the type of person to snitch to the elders?” Mark set down the eggs and focused on Jinyoung now, getting worried. “Clearly you want to tell me something.” 

“Well, I-I-” Jinyoung’s face was turning red. “Jaebum could sense me…” he muttered under his breath. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He-he noticed my smell was different, he- Mark, I’m…” it was hard for Jinyoung to force the words out of his mouth. Knowing Mark, he wouldn’t be the type to judge him, but…. “I’m expecting.” 

Mark’s eyes widen. “Expecting? As in-in a baby?”

Jinyoung’s face went red. “Yeah,” he said, his voice cracking. His eyes were started to get shiny. “I’m… pregnant.”

Jinyoung bursted into tears, hands reaching to cover his face. Immediately, Mark walked up to him and gave him a hug, patting Jinyoung’s back while the latter continued to cry. 

This was bad news. Premarital sex was frowned upon in the community, and in the most extreme cases, you could get publicly beaten as a punishment. Jinyoung was being courted but he was not mated. This was not good. 

Everything he had been blabbing about made sense. Once they reach a certain amount of months, you can sense that the omega was pregnant. Of course, they would soon start being noticeable, but still. There was no way to hide it. 

This was bad news for Jinyoung. 

***

Lucky (or unlucky) for Jinyoung, he was not the only one expecting in the village. 

Because when Jaehyun came back from his bath in the river, that’s when he noticed Taeyong’s smell was off. 

Jaehyun tried to think. Did Taeyong ate mint again? Those always made his scent go ballistic for some reason. Maybe something in the woods rubbed off him? Maybe-

Wait a fucking second. 

It had been over two years since Taeyong last carried a child, but this was the exact same smell he had when he was expecting Gongchan and Gunwoo, the twins. Plus, they just had…

The heat sex.

Oh my gosh. 

Jaehyun was going to be… a dad!!

Oh wait. He had other children, too. 

Well was going to be a dad to a new person!! A new, precious little thing, made because of him and Taeyong! His five children were going to have a sibling! This was amazing!!

The only thing that worried him was that, since Taeyong has already gone through multiple pregnancies, he knew that the other always got exhausted, often experiencing pain and a whole list of symptoms. 

It made sense that Taeyong got pregnant. He was really young, barely starting his twenties, but he still remain fertile, despite the past four pregnancies with five children. It didn’t help that the people in the village were so fucking rude to his omega husband.

Honestly, they claim about the new population being low but then argue on Taeyong having a lot of children? What was their problem? And why should they give a damn in the first place? It was because of their stupid rules that Jaehyun and Taeyong married young in the first place. Not that Jaehyun regretted it, of course. 

Taeyong was wrapped around with the soft blankets on the bed, eyes shooting open when he sensed Jaehyun walking into the room. “I missed you,” he muttered. 

Jaehyun climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Taeyong, planting a soft kiss on his neck. “I missed you, too.” 

Taeyong snuggled closer to Jaehyun. “Cozy.”

Jaehyun planted another kiss. “Taeyong, guess what, I got good news.”

“Oh?” Taeyong turned around and wrapped his hands around Jaehyun. “What is it?”

Jaehyun lowered his hand onto Taeyong’s stomach. “There’s someone here.”

Taeyong’s eyes went wide, knowing that line. Jaehyun always used it to reference someone who was pregnant. “What? Really? But-but just last night-”

“I know.” Jaehyun gave him a quick, soft kiss on his lips. “I love you, you know?”

Jaehyun did  _ not  _ expect for Taeyong to start to cry. “You’re-you’re happy? You’re not mad?” Taeyong said, tears falling down his eyes. 

“Wait, why would I be mad?” Jaehyun asked. When has he ever been mad of Taeyong expecting?

“Cause you know what the village calls me, you know how I can never help you with work, how-I’m just a burden to you,” Taeyong explained, pulling the blanket over his head to not look at Jaehyun. 

“First off, fuck the village.” Jaehyun pulled down the blanket while Taeyong kept sniffling. “Two, taking care of our children is work, too, Taeyong, you honestly do a lot. I feel bad because I don’t help you.”

Taeyong wiped his eyes. “Really?”

“Do you remember what I said during our wedding?” Jaehyun reminded him. 

Taeyong sniffled. “How you want to have 20 children with me?”

Jaehyun smiled. “Yeah, you know how I don’t mind if it becomes a reality,” he said. “Do you want the baby?”

Taeyong looked down at Jaehyun’s chest. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” he whispered. 

“Course not, it’s proof that I love you,” Jaehyun said. “You should never be ashamed of your children or pregnancies, Taeyong, if someone says something, tell me so that I can punch them.”

Taeyong giggled. “Don’t do that, I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Jaehyun hummed. “You know what we can do?"

“What?”

“A repeat of last night,” Jaehyun whispered into Taeyong’s ear, giving him a kiss on the lips until the latter returned it, the two soon wrapping their arms around each other. 

***

  
  
  


** _***18 years ago***_ **

  
  
  


“Where’s Seungcheol?” Jeonghan asked a sweaty Junhui, who just came out of practice. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

Junhui frowned. “Shouldn’t you know? Aren’t you the one who reported him?”

Now it was Jeonghan’s turn to frown. “Report? Report him for what?"

“He got fired for being disrespectful to the princess,” Junhui explained, grabbing a towel to wipe himself off. 

“ _ You  _ think I-Junhui, did you  _ really  _ assume I would fire someone for-when was he being rude to me? Who do you take me as?” Jeonghan scolded him. 

“Hey, it’s what I was told,” Junhui defended himself.

“So your first thought was to think of me negatively?” Jeonghan said. “What a friend you are.” 

Jeonghan stormed off, ignoring Junhui’s pleas of  _ wait!.  _ He couldn’t believe it. Was everyone’s first thought think he was a shitty person?

What was Seungcheol fired for, anyways? Rejecting the fruit tart? Was that a crime now? Everyone had their own taste. Honestly, the high standards everyone had for him was getting real old. 

Jeonghan found the guards walking nearby, noticing how Seungcheol was not in the group anymore. That was a pain in the gut. 

He marched up to Siwon, ignoring the hellos and bows coming from the guards. It was all fake, anyways. No one cared for him. Not even his father or stepmother. 

Moments like these where he wished his mother was still alive. 

“Your highness, what brings you here?” Sir Siwon asked Jeonghan. 

Jeonghan stood in front of him, arms crossed. “Where’s Choi Seungcheol?” 

Siwon gave Jeonghan a look. “He’s no longer working with us, your high-”

“Please don’t call me that,” Jeonghan interrupted him. “Did you fire a worker of mine because of rejecting a fruit tart?” 

“He hurt your feelings, you-Jeonghan,” Siwon explained. “Under palace rules-”

“Fuck the palaces rules,” Jeonghan said, earning a surprised look from the other guards. Omegas never cursed, much less those in royal positions. “You can’t fire people for having a harmless different view. He has a family he has to take care for-”

“He does not have a family, I can assure you,” Siwon reminded him. “He is alone.”

“Even so! He has to maintain himself!” Jeonghan exclaimed. “I want him rehired again, if he chooses to accept, considering you guys were unfair. You have until tonight to give him the message.”

Jeonghan walked away, ignoring the shouts from the other guards. They wanted to treat him like royalty? Fine. They had to listen to him like one.    
  


*******

  
“My chances with him are ruined,” Jeonghan sulked, stirring his milkshake with his straw. “He’s going to hate me now.”

“That’s not true, I’m sure he will appreciate you giving him his job back,” Minghao comforted him. “If not, I can clear up with him the misunderstanding, don’t worry.” 

Jeonghan sniffled. “You’d do that for me?” 

MInghao squinted his eyes at Jeonghan. “Jeonghan, what part of best friends do you not understand?”

“I’m sure you’re going to ask me to help you later.”

“No I wasn’t-stop laughing at me!!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read my other stories I know you're tired of this authors note but anyways sorry I haven't been updating, due to the COVID19 situation I haven't had access to WiFi or my devices, however for the next few days I will so I'll try to update as much as I can , stay safe and stream Suho's solo

He found the place. 

Shin had been searching around for the hut that Takuya was staying at. He knew that he lived in the part of the village where all the Chinese immigrants stayed, but there was still a huge amount. 

He walked around the area, getting a few displeased looks from the Chinese that were outside here and there, but it was understandable. The people from the main part of the village  _ never  _ interacted with them, and if they came here, it was only to deliver bad news to them. 

It wasn’t until he saw the man that made him stop in his tracks. It was a young alpha, in his twenties, most likely, but Shin had never seen him before. 

He was sitting outside a hut, carving a block of wood. Shin remembers Takuya talking to him in broken Korean how he had come here with a companion. Maybe it was this guy. 

He walked in front of the alpha, who had stopped his wood carving and was now giving Shin a weird look. 

“Where’s Takuya?” Shin demanded. 

The alpha’s eyes went wide. “How do you know him?” He asked in accented Korean. 

How secretive  _ were  _ these two? They were trying to become like the Scoups man. Well, that was a bust since everyone knows his mate and son now. 

_ That  _ had been the talk of the century. People knew it was them as soon as they walked in, as a rumor had been circulating that the omega mate had long hair and that he had an omega son. No one knows where the rumor came from, but Shin highly suspected that one of the officials started it. Who else would know that type of information? Plus, when the two omegas walked in, no one recognized them, and that’s when they knew. 

Not to mention that he was engaged (or, well, soon-to-be engaged) to freaking Wu Yifan. Big news right here. The whole village was anxious to know how the engagement party tomorrow will go. Not to mention the actual wedding, oh,  _ that  _ will be the talk for a  _ long  _ time. 

The only wedding Shin has ever gone to was the one for Chan and Woojin, but no one has heard of them since. Some rumor that they ran away, others that they refuse to interact with the outside world. Some even thought they were dead. 

Again, probably the officials. Shin was still pissed off at them after the meeting’s stunt. Ain’t no way he’s going to marry some random alpha. 

For a few seconds, Shin had forgotten that the japanese was in front of him. “Takuya helped me cut bamboo the other day. He told me he was somewhere here.”   
  


The alpha gave him a glare but didn’t say anything. “He’s by the stream,” he said. “Don’t tell anyone he’s there.”

Shin nodded and walked away, running into the woods where the stream was nearby. 

There, he found Takuya, scrubbing his hair in the water. Shin must have made a noise, though, because Takuya turned around and saw Shin, a grin forming on his face. “Hey! Shin!” he yelled, waving his hands. 

Wasn’t Takuya supposed to be quiet? Rule-breaker for sure. Typical alphas. 

Shin inched forward, not wanting to get wet. He noticed a pile of clothes next to the tree; they must be Takuya’s. There was a small bag that also contained the soaps he must be using. “How’s the water treating ya,” Shin asked, coming a bit closer. 

“Good, very good.” Takuya raised his thumbs at Shin, which made the latter want to burst out laughing. Takuya’s broken Korean was so funny to hear.

  
“You take bath, too?” Takuya asked the latter, whose face was now turning red. 

“Well, uh, not trying to interrupt you-”

“No, it’s okay, enough soap for two.” Takuya waded through the water to where Shin was, until-

Oh, yeah. He was taking a bath, thus he was naked. Why did Shin not process this.   
  
“Oh, god, um-” Shin reached out to cover his eyes to an oblivious Takuya. “I’m really good, thanks.”   
  
He didn’t know what Takuya was doing, but all he could hear was the latter walking around. Probably getting dressed. 

“Sorry, me done anyways.” Shin peeked through his fingers to see Takuya, thankfully, now wearing pants, drying his hair with a small towel. “Sorry. You uncomfortable.”   
  
“It’s fine, um-” Shin took off his hands from his face, watching Takuya buttoned up a white sleeved shirt. Interesting. “I met your friend, actually.”    
  
“Oh, Yuta?” Takuya finished buttoning his shirt and grabbed his socks, sitting on the grass to put them on. “He cool. Best friend.”   
  
“Figured.” Shin sat down on the grass as well, watching Takuya put on his shoes. “He asked me how I knew you guys? He acted like he was hiding something.”   
  
Takuya frowned. “No. No ask about past.”   
  
“Why?” Shin asked him. “What’s wrong with it?”   
  
“Very bad. Bad people. Don’t ask about past. Danger for me and you.”   
  
***

“So.” Chanyeol and Shownu were sitting near the square, right in front of Kun’s house again. Surely the old man wouldn’t mind. “You and Kihyun, huh?”   
  
Shownu covered his cheeks, surely knowing they were going to turn red any second now. “Shut up.”   
  
“Why, you’re embarrassed of having a boyfriend?” Chanyeol asked him.    
  
“No.” Shownu reached into his bag and pulled out a rice ball. “I don’t want to  _ talk  _ about me screaming how much I love him the other night.”   
  
“But it’s not like he rejected you,” Chanyeol said. “...right?”   
  
“God no, I would be a fucking mess if he did.” He bit into his rice ball, ignoring Chanyeol’s whining of wanting one. “But we  _ are  _ taking it slow and I don’t want him to feel pressured, so now everyone’s refrained from embarrassing him or me. I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable.”   
  


“That’s a healthy relationship.” Chanyeol crossed his arms. “If only Baekhyun liked me like that,” he pouted. 

“Oh, I’m sure-no, wait, scratch that. I don’t know much about it,” Shownu confessed. “But look. You like him. You want to date him. Just be honest about it with him, he looks like someone who would be suspicious of anything, especially after how he treats alphas. If you're upfront about it, he’ll feel more comfortable around you.”   
  
Chanyeol grabbed Shownu’s bag and dug out a rice ball. “Wow. Few days of dating and you’re already giving advice.”    
  
“It’s just what I feel- DON’T FUCKING EAT MY RICE BALL!”   
  


***   
  


It was weird bringing Junmyeon to his house. 

Yifan’s family had the largest house in the village, compared with the tiny houses the others had. Junmyeon’s house was also bigger than the other’s, but nothing compared with Yifan’s. 

That being said, there was a lot to show to Junmyeon. The two living rooms, the kitchen that the staff worked in, the dining room. There was a large study and library that Xuheng was often in, but it was usually off-limits to guests. Since Junmyeon was his “fiance” though, he was sure his father wouldn’t mind. 

He opened the library door for Junmyeon to enter. “This is the library, where we collect all the books,” Yifan explained.    
  
Junmyeon entered slowly, his face filled with awe. His parents only had a handful of books that they either brought here to the village when they escaped or that Seungcheol went through extreme lengths to purchase them from the officials. To see shelves and shelves of books, though…

Junmyeon walked towards one of the bookshelves, reading the spines of the book covers. Jeonghan had taught him many languages and ways to write when he was younger, drawing on the dirt with a stick or using those rare pieces of paper that his parents would have. He could read the titles of many books, some in Korean, Chinese, English, even Spanish. His mother probably knew all the ones here, though; Jeonghan admitted to knowing at least 15. 

“You have so many books,” Junmyeon whispered, reaching out to touch one of them but pulled his hand back. 

“No, you can grab it if you want.” Yifan walked up behind Junmyeon and pulled the book out for Junmyeon to see. “I can understand some of them, but not all.” 

Turning the book over, he saw the title of the book. It was a thick hardback, titled in English. It was named Winter for some reason. 

“This one looks nice,” Junmyeon said. “I love the apple design on the front.” 

“It’s a book in English,” Yifan said, pointing to the title.

Junmyeon nodded his head. “I know, I speak it.”   
  


Yifan looked surprised. “Really? You guys speak English? Not a lot of people here know it.”   
  
“My eomma taught me.” Junmyeon started flipping through the pages. “This looks so interesting.” 

“You can have it if you want,” Yifan said. 

Junmyeon’s eyes went wide. “Really?” he said, clutching the book tighter to his chest and looking down. “You don’t have to.”   
  


“No, don’t worry about it, we have so many books already.” Yifan pointed to another bookshelf. “I don't even know what these are. Some have the same letters in English but  _ aren’t _ English.”   
  
“Oh, that book,” Junmyeon pointed the spine of one of them. “That one is in Spanish.”   
  
Yifan turned his head to look at Junmyeon. “Spanish? You know Spanish too?”   
  
“Eomma taught me a lot,” Junmyeon explained. 

That’s when Yifan got an idea. “There’s something that I have to show you,” he said, reaching out to grab Junmyeon’s hand. 

He led him to another room in the same hallway, the one with all the artifacts. A lot of it was random items that they must have used before the downfall of men those decades and centuries ago, but maybe Junmyeon would know how to use it. He seemed really smart. 

He opened the door to let Junmyeon in, the latter already buzzing with excitement. He really liked all the stuff that Yifan was showing him. 

When he saw the inside of the room, though, he got confused. He looked around the room, expecting to see something familiar, but… “what  _ is  _ all this?”   
  
“These are the artifacts,” Yifan explained. “When the officials go for imports, they sometimes find stuff from the old times and give it to my father. We’re hoping one day we know what they’re for but……” Yifan shrugged. “Nothing now. Feel free to uh, look around,” Yifan said, gesturing around the room. 

Junmyeon stepped in slowly, trying no to step on anything. On the ground, there was a box with black and white thick… he didn’t know how to describe it, like a very thin rope, or thick string? But it didn’t appear to be made out of fabric, though.    
  
He picked one of the black things from the box. The long string-like thing felt really rubbering on the outside. There was a small box attached to it. “What are  _ these  _ for?”   
  
“I think they are called cables,” Yifan explained. “See those metal plugs? A lot of stuff here has cables with those.”   
  
“Oh, I know what they are,” Junmyeon said. “They have electricity travel through them so that they make stuff work, like CDs and DVDs, allowing you to hear and see stuff. I've never actually used itz but it shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Yifan suddenly perked up. "DVD? You said DVD?"

"Yeah, eomma says they're like discs, like circles with a shiny side-" 

Yifan got up from where he was sitting, going through the boxes. "I swear I just put them here somewhere."

"Put what?" Junmyeon asked. 

"There's these silver circles in boxes and they say DVD on them," Yifan explained. "Some have even more than one circle. Some are in Korean, some in Chinese-aha!" He pulled out a big wooden box, bringing it to Junmyeon. "They're all in here."

He took the latch off and lifted the lid, revealing a variety of thin boxes inside.They all had pictures on them, mostly people. 

Junmyeon picked up one that had English on the front, Iron Man 2. "My eomma says these are called movies," he explained. "He had when growing up and loved what she called a drama, called You've Fallen For Me. He hasn't seen them in years."

"You said that these can help you see stuff?" Yifan asked, curious. He never knew what these thin boxes and silver discs were for. 

"He says you need something called a TV," Junmyeon explained. "It's like a big box with a shiny surface and all these cables poking out. I don't know what it looks like, though."

Suddenly, Yifan had an idea. "Hey, do you think it'll be a good idea for your eomma to visit?"

  
  


***

“YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND??” Mark Tuan yelled at Chen Le. 

Chen Le took a step back, scared of Mark grabbing his shoulders and shaking him everywhere. He did  _ not  _ need another motion sickness episode right now. “He’s courting me now,” he whispered, making the latter’s eyes bulge even wider.   
  
“Triple dates!” Jimin yelled, pumping his fists into the air. “Yay!”   
  
“Wait, who’s the other one?” Baekhyun said. 

“It was you and Chanyeol or Mark and Jackson-”   
  
“I DON’T FUCKING LIKE JACKSON-” Mark started to screech before Baekhyun covered his mouth, not wanting to hear his shouts. 

It was Saturday morning, the day of the engagement party of the now-famous couple, Wu Yifan and Kim Junmyeon. The omegas are being forced to get dressed properly to try to find mates, and the alphas in the village were desperately getting ready in order to make an omega find them attractive. Thankfully, Jimin didn’t have to worry; he was engaged to Yoongi after all. They even threw a small party for Jimin, just the five of them, with all of his favorite dishes and cakes and juices. Sure, it wouldn’t be grand like the officials’ sons, but it was what  _ they  _ wanted. 

Jimin had been the only one in their group for so long with a boyfriend, but apparently that has changed today.    
  


“How did you guys meet?” Jimin asked him. He looked over to where Yoongi was lying on the floor, snoring. He was always tired. “Was it romantic?”   
  
Chen Le sighed. “He came to my house asking my parents if he could court me. My parents didn’t even let me say yes or no.”   
  
“That’s not fair!” Mark yelled at him. “They can’t do that!”   
  


“Who is it?” Jimin questioned him. “Is he at least nice?”   
  
Chen Le took another step back from Mark. “It’s Park Jisung.”   
  
Mark was trying to remember who that was. There were quite a few alphas, but he only knew the most popular ones or the asshole ones (got to know who to avoid, after all). A lot of alphas were loners or hung out with only each other, since parents were really protective of their omegas. 

Wait a second. Park Jisung was the tall, lanky kid who…

Wait. 

“Is he the one who hit you that one time?” Mark said, slowly.

Chen Le inched back to where Baekhyun was sitting, hiding behind his shoulders. “Yes.”   
  
“I’M GOING TO BEAT HIS ASS!” Mark yelled, grabbing a nearby branch and swinging it over his shoulder. “Yoongi! Get your ass up!”    
  
“Yoongi won’t hurt him-” Jimin tried to interrupt them, but it was no use; Yoongi stirred in his sleep, mumbling a few words of “more” and “minutes”.

Mark marched over to where Yoongi was sleeping, shaking the latter’s shoulders until the alpha muttered a what the fuck. “Yoongi. Wake up. We got an ass beating to attend to.”   
  
“No one is beating up anyone!!” Jimin tried to pull Mark off of Yoongi. “Don’t wake him up, you shouldn’t hurt people-”   
  
“Did someone say ass beating?” Yoongi got up from the ground, rubbing his head. “Who are we beating this time?”   
  
“THIS TIME?!” Jimin yelled. “What was the other time??”

“Yoongi beat up the guys who commented on your ass that one time,” Baekhyun explained. 

Jimin pushed Mark off to the ground and grabbed Yoongi’s shoulders instead. “How dare you! We had a promise, Yoongi!”   
  
“That was before the promise!” Yoongi stood up, trying to grab Jimin’s hands, which the latter refused, crossing his chest instead. “You know I never break those promises.”   
  


“Wait, what promise are you guys talking about?” Chen Le asked. 

"He promised not to beat up people just because they upset me, I don't want him to get hurt," Jimin explained.

"Ya, I'm going to listen to my fiance," Yoongi said before lying back down on the ground, presumably to sleep. 

""What's the game plan for today?" Baekhyun asked the group, not wanting to talk about beating people up anymore 

"Easy, we eat all the food available and then we leave," Mark said. "I'm not mingling."

"Ah, come on Mark! It'll be fun!" Jimin shouted, running over to Mark's side. "I think it's cool that they are together, we should show our support to them."

"They shouldn't want support from people they don't know," Mark argued. 

"Let's just go and leave, you guys are turning this into a big deal," Baekhyun interrupted. "Think of it like the Chan and Woojin wedding again."

"Well,  _ I'm  _ going to buy them a present." Jimin got up from his sea, walking over to where Yoongi was to shake his shoulders. "Yoongi, you have to wake up, Yoongi~"

Yoongi groaned in his sleep. "Five more minutes," he drawled out, going back into his slumber.

"Yoongi! The engagement party is today!" Jimin yelled at his fiance. "Sleeping has to be postponed!"

Chen Le grabbed a stick and started poking Yoongi with it. Yoongi. Yoongi. Min Yoongi- hey, since you're having a union ceremony, they're going to make you change your last name, you won't be Park Jimin anymore!"

Jimin couldn't help but blush a little. "I always liked having two Mins in my name."

"Hold on, Jimin won't be be a Park anymore, but Chen Le will be?" Mark asked. "Weird."

"You would be Mark Wang, though-"

"I SAID I DON'T F-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "do what you love. And if what you love is me, well..." *winks*   
Jackson you're so stupid I love you


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited as always
> 
> MARK LEE IS BACK IN DREAM BITCHES
> 
> also a TINYYYYYYYY mention of injury? Not sure if that triggers anyone, it'll be in italics if ya wanna skip

During all his years of living here in the village, he has only interacted with a handful of people, as far as he could remember. His parents, some officials who would come every now and then, and then Yifan, but that was about it. When Junmyeon went to the council meeting, that had been his first time interacting with the other villagers, not that he did much – he clung onto Jeonghan’s side the entire time while his omega mother defended him from the others. 

He had not expected that his second time would be an  _ engagement  _ party, much less his own.

Since Yifan was the chief’s son, it was pretty much open to everyone, even if Junmyeon only knew like three people. His father Seungcheol at least recognized some people, but his mother Jeonghan didn’t know anyone either. 

Just great. 

It was awfully nice for Yifan to fake their relationship so that Junmyeon doesn’t get married off. But when it ends, what would they do to Junmyeon? Would they try again to pair him off with someone? 

Hopefully it won’t get too graphic as when his parents left their home city all those years ago, of his grandparents trying to marry off a pregnant Jeonghan while warrants were out for Seungcheol, dead or alive. 

Yeah, pretty graphic. 

But at least his parents were safe, with nothing hopefully happening to them, together here with him. 

Junmyeon was sitting at the kitchen table, with Jeonghan brushing his hair. They had to go soon, so his mother was helping him get ready while he tried to calm down his nerves. 

“You’re going to do just fine,” Jeonghan reassured him, running the comb over and over Junmyeon’s hair. It was already knot-free, but it was almost therapeutic to Junmyeon, so he didn’t stop.

“Easy for you to say,” Junmyeon argued. “You would speak in front of a lot of people all the time.”

“Pfft, I’ve probably said like ten words in total to the people,” Jeonghan reminded him. “That was usually my father.”   
  
It had been weird, being the prince back then. In a few years it’ll be two decades since he and Seungcheol ran away, but his memories were still as clear as day. All he really missed, though, was his friend Minghao. He wondered how Minghao was doing , whether his relationship with Junhui was still going strong, how their child was fairing. Oh, baby Luhan had been so small when Jeonghan left, but the latter was around a few months older than Junmyeon, he must be grown by now. 

As the prince, Jeonghan had taken many classes and tutoring sessions throughout his whole life in the palace, and one course that he had been able to take was drawing. His father and stepmother often praised him, for his drawings looked realistic, almost as if you had a photograph. Jeonghan had brought his sketchbook with him when they ran away, which included drawings of Minghao, Junhui and Seungcheol, as well as Seungcheol’s friends Soonyoung, Joshua, Jihoon, and Mingyu. Those were the only things he had to remind him of them, as well as some jewelry. Everything else was clothes, food, first aid or weapons. 

Jeonghan never found the need to hide his past from Junmyeon, always telling him stories of himself and Minghao, of Jeonghan’s mother before she passed away, where he came from. What he did hide, though, was, well-

“Where’s dad?” Junmyeon said, interrupting Jeonghan’s train of thought. “He said he was upstairs looking for something but wouldn’t tell me.”

Jeonghan set down the comb that he had been using. “If he won’t tell you, what makes you think I will?”

His mother had a point, but it was rare for his parents to give him surprises. “It better not be a gift, you know that Yifan and I are pretending.”   
  
Right in that moment, Seungcheol came down the stairs, a tiny, wrapped box in his palms. “Jeonghan, I found it,” he exclaimed, waving it in the air. “I told you I didn’t misplace it!”

Junmyeon turned around in his seat to look at Jeonghan. “Really.”

Jeonghan raised his hands in defense. “I’m your mother, I can gift you whatever I want. Besides,” Jeonghan got up from his chair and grabbed a much bigger (but still small) box on top of the fridge. “ _ This  _ is your present, not that.” 

Seungcheol put his box on the table. “We figured we have to give Yifan a present, too.” He wrapped his hand around Jeonghan’s shoulder, who extended the box to Junmyeon. “Open it.”

Junmyeon took the box from his parents. “You guys really didn’t have to give me anything.”   
  
“It honestly has  _ nothing  _ to do with the engagement, I’ve been planning to give it to you for when you become an adult,” Jeonghan said. “Now open it.”   
  
Sighing at his parent’s resistance, Junmyeon took off the lid of the box his mother had handed to him, gasping when he saw the inside. “You didn’t.”

Inside the box was a small, translucent scarf, all white with lace decorating the edges. Out of all the clothes that Jeonghan had brought with him all those years, this was the only one which-

“This belonged to your mom,” Junmyeon stuttered out.    
  


“Who happens to be your grandmother, in case you forgot,” Jeonghan reminded him. “I thought you should have it.”   
  
Junmyeon had seen the scarf before, had known about its existence. Jeonghan never wore it, always having it locked away in his closet, afraid of it getting damaged, only taking it out now and then to reminiscent over it, and now-

It was  _ his.  _

Junmyeon hastily set the box on the table before rushing towards his parents to give them a hug, the two of them enveloping him in their arms. 

The village can set him up a grand party all they want, but  _ this  _ is what matters most to Junmyeon. 

\---

When the three arrived to the event, it’s hard not to notice everyone give them eyes, especially when Yifan came over to say hello. 

“Hey, how’s everything?” Yifan asked him, looking, well-

It was a bit awkward to admit it, but Yifan  _ did _ look… handsome in his attire. 

Junmyeon could feel his cheeks getting warm. 

“…good,” was what he managed to stutter out. “Oh, uh, we got you a, uhm, gift.”

Seungcheol handed Yifan the gift that they prepared for him. “It's to our future son-in-law." Even though they were just pretending, Junmyeon's parents played the part real well.

"Oh, thank you so much," Yifan said, taking the gift before bowing down to a 90 degree angle."You didn't have to get me anyth-"

"Oh, God, not you too."Jeonghan covered his hands with his face. "You two are more alike than anything."

Seungcheol pulled Junmyeon aside, whispering something in his ear before wrapping his arm around his mate. "Well, we'll leave you two alone for awhile, so, uh-" he gestured everything around them with his free hand. "We'll be around. I think."

Seungcheol and Jeonghan turned to walk away, and now the "couple" was alone.

"Um, okay, soooooo.." Yifan ran his hand through his hair in a last-desperate attempt to fix it. "Is there anything you want to do?"

Junmyeon shrugged. "What are you supposed to do in an engagement party?"

" _ That _ is a good question. I have no clue." Yifan looked around, trying to find someone. "Let's get you talking to someone before the elders and officials come- hey,  _ Chanyeol,  _ come here, man!"

Chanyeol ran over to where Yifan and Junmyeon were, swallowing the chicken that he had been chewing from his chicken drumsticks before speaking. "Nice party, man, I'm glad to be one of your 'best man'" he said, using air quotes. 

"Yeah, anyways, this is Kim Junmyeon," Yifan said, pointing to his 'fiance'. "Junmyeon, this is one of my best friends, Chanyeol."

"Correction: the  _ best  _ friend-"

"No you're not," Yifan argued. "You guys are all tied." "Looking at Junmyeon, he said "Don't worry, they know about the situation."

"Yeah, Yifan doesn't have guts to ask someone for courting-" Chanyeol was interrupted by Yifan jabbing into his side. 

"Clearly, the alphas here are stupid, you should meet other omegas." Yifan grabbed Junmyeon's shoulders and turned him around, leading him away from Chanyeol. "See you later bu-"

""Wait, wait,  _ wait,  _ you didn't even let me talk to Junmyeon for a good two seconds." Chanyeol put himself in front of Junmyeon, stopping Yifan. "Besides, you don't know a  _ single _ omega, Junmyeon here doesn't count."

"Says the dude who almost wets himself trying to say hi to Baekhyun-wait a second." Yifan took off his hands from Junmyeon. Later he would realize that this was the first time he actually touches the latter, but that thought will come soon enough. "Take me to Baekhyun. He has omega friends, right?"

Chanyeol's face went pale. "Uh, I don't know where he is."

"Fine, I'll ask Seung-"

"Wait, give me a second." Chanyeol took a deep breath. "Don't embarrass me, okay?" 

Junmyeon really wanted to laugh but he couldn't. Is this how Yifan was with all his friends? They all seemed harmless.

"Lead the way, Chanyeol before I expose you to Junmyeon here," Yifan said. 

  
  


\---

  
  


The engagement party was actually pretty good, the five of them agreed. 

Well, four. Yoongi had his head on Jimin's shoulders, taking a nap, while the four omegas continued talking and eating. They were all the way back in the clearing where the organization was taking place, right next to the small forest in the center of the village, thus giving them privacy. 

"You know, Chen Le, you are really lucky that Jisung gave you cherries," Mark (Tuan, obviously) said, taking another bite of his second pork belly serving, swallowing before continuing. "Literally one of the best baking ingredients to ever exist."

"I haven't eaten them yet," Chen Le said, taking a sip of his rice drink. "Isn't the center, like, poisonous or something?"

Jimin spit out the rice he had been eating. " _ Poison? _ I ate a cherry this morning that Yoongi gave me!!"

"It's not poisonous, calm down," Mark said. "Wait, Jimin, how did you manage to eat the pit, that's like really hard."

Jimin frowned, still refusing to continue eating his food. "Mine didn't have the pit."

"Pitless cherries, evolution sure is wonderful." Mark stuffed some more rice in his mouth but paused midway, staring at something behind Chen Le's head. "Uhhhh-"

"Not another snake again," Chen Le said, visibly shaking as he turned around to see what Mark was talking about. "Oh, it's just Yifan and- WAIT A DAMN MINUTE-"

That made quiet and stoic Baekhyun stiffle a laugh. Chen Le never cuss, that was Mark's job. He stopped, however, when he noticed Chanyeol with the other two.

"Hey, Baekhyun." Chanyeol did finger guns at the whole group. "How's, uh, life?"

Not this alpha again. "Uhhh… It's going?"

The whole group remained in silence for about five seconds until Yifan spoke up. 

"So, uh, I just wanted to show Junmyeon around and let him meet people," he said, putting his hands on the latter's shoulders again out of habit. "Junmyeon, these are Baekhyun, Jimin, Chen Le and…. Mark Lee right?"

Mark Tuan crossed his arms. "Do I  _ look  _ like the goody two shoes alpha?"

"That's Tuan," Chanyeol whispered to Yifan.

"Oh, the one Jackson likes!" Yifan shouted in realization.

"EWW,  _ hell no _ , he flirts with everyone!"

"Uh, nice to meet you guys," Junmyeon interrupted. "Um… yeah…"

Yifan turned around to see that his father Xuheng and Hyunsuk talking far away and looking at his direction. 

"Do you guys want to talk to him for a bit, I have to meet someone." Yifan grabbed Chanyeol's hand to pull him away. "Jun, will you be okay?"

Jim, he called him Jun. His parents called him that nickname too, but how did he figure it out? "As ready as I'll ever be."

  
  


\---

  
  


Despite having five kids, it was pretty easy taking care of them when in large groups.

Usually, when Jaehyun and Taeyong separate, one of them takes the twins and the other is in charge of the eldest three. The boys were always on their best behavior and sticked together, so watching them wasn’t a hard task. 

Right now, Taeyong was watching the twins; Gongchan was pulling strands of grass and throwing them at Gunwoo who merely laughed in response. 

Taeyong took another bite of the portion of rice that Jaehyun had given him, his husband claiming that he needed the extra energy for their future little one. Even though it hasn’t even been three days Jaehyun was acting like this, although Taeyong couldn’t say that he minded; Jaehyun had always been like that. 

As he continued to watch his two sons to play with the grass, he almost didn’t noticed the omega male walking towards him. 

“Hey, you’re Taeyong, right?” Taeyong looked up to see a lanky omega cowering, playing with his fingers and struggling to maintain eye contact with him.

“Yeah, I’m Taeyong, and you are?”

The omega hid his hands behind his back. “Jinyoung.”

Taeyong looked over to where Gongchan and Gunwoo were playing. “Nice to meet you, Jinyoung, how are you?”   
  
“Oh, fine, it’s just, uh-” Jinyoung took two steps forwards, rubbing his palms vigorously. “I just wanted to ask you a question, just curious.”   
  
Taeyong nodded. “Go ahead.”

“It’s kind of personal, though,” Jinyoung admitted. “I understand if you don’t want to answer.”

In the distance, Taeyong could see how Gongchan walks up to an omega and handed him a dandelion that he had found. The omega had long hair, really blond, and Taeyong had never seen him before. “It’s fine.”

Jinyoung stayed quiet for a few more seconds. “Does it hurt when people call you names?”   
  
Taeyong flinched. 

He had not been expecting that comment for the most part. Although, to be fair, he was already surprised that someone wanted to talk to him, especially a teen like Jinyoung. 

Outcasts in this village were not loved, not cared for. There were a few of them, some teens, some alphas and omegas, most of the Chinese population. Taeyong was considered to be one, although many people admired and respected Jaehyun, even though they didn't like his parenting. What matters to alphas is that they have kids, right? That they have a pretty omegas to fuck whenever they want and to give them their children, cause that's all an omega is for. 

So why was Jinyoung asking him about his feelings?

Taeyong didn't talk to the omegas as much as he should as he took care of his children all day and Jaehyun was busy doing work and tasks in the village. Both omegas and alphas would make comments about him, both the young and old population, both male and female.

"The names are never going to stop," Taeyong admitted. "It doesn't matter what I think of it, it's not my right to decide."

"So you're okay with it?" Jinyoung continued. "You're okay with them saying stuff to you?"

No, he wasn't. He didn't marry Jaehyun because he was expecting He didn't marry the latter so that they could have sex without being punished. He didn't even planned on having sex after the union ceremony, although he did because he felt comfortable with Jaehyun during the moment Did the villagers know this? Who knows, but they loved to run their mouths and gossip without even wanting to know the truth.

"Why do you think we finally mated?" Taeyong asked, curious of the latter's answer.

"Because you love each other, right?"

…

"I do love him," Taeyong confirmed, "and he loves me, and no rumors and hate comments is going to change that."

Jinyoung nodded his head, accepting the answer. "Thanks, Taeyong, I appreciate it."

Jinyoung turned away and left, giving a wave before heading off. Taeyong saw how he catched up to an alpha the same age as him, the alpha running his hand over Jinyoung's hair as the latter talked to him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw his son Gongchan walk towards him, holding onto the unfamiliar omega's hand with Gunwoo trailing behind him. "Eomma, eomma, eomma-" he babbles, muttering a few nonsense words.

"Hey, Gongchannie, who do you got there?" Taeyong asked in a high pitch voice, reaching out to pat his son's head. 

"Hannie, Hannie," Gongchan spitted out, letting go of this "Hannie's" hands before moving his hands everywhere, obviously telling a story of whatever him and this omega were doing. 

"Jeonghan," the omega clarified. "He's really into grass but doesn't like pulling them from the roots."

Gunwoo started talking to Gongchan in their baby language, making exaggerated movements with their hands, the two already ignoring the adults. 

"I hope they weren't much trouble," Taeyong said to Jeonghan, seeing as the two could get pretty persuasive when they wanted to play with someone. 

""Oh, no, they were fine, I like playing with kids," Jeonghan reassured him. "They're really well-behaved."

"Oh, do you have any kids?" Taeyong asked, curious.

"Just one," the omega said, smiling sadly. "I was only able to have one, but he's grown now."

That surprised Taeyong. The omega looked younger than his age. "How old is he?"

"Sixteen," Jeonghan clarified. "Almost seventeen. His name is Junmyeon, an omega. Doesn't look like me or his dad, though."

The name sounded familiar to Taeyong, he is sure he has heard the name before, most likely of Jaehyun mentioning it. 

Then it clicked. "The one getting married?"

" _ That's  _ the one," Jeonghan laughed. "To Yifan. Yifan's a nice alpha, correct?"

Taeyong nodded. "Yeah, he's really respectful to everyone and his friends, too. Everyone here knows them-"

"Eomma, pwetty flower." Taeyong saw Gongchan hand him a crushed weed in his hand. "Pwetty!!"

"I wanna grab!!" Gunwoo said, fighting his twin for the weed. 

Taeyong and Jeonghan laughed in unison at the twin's antics, each thinking of their own antics. 

***

_ He couldn't take it anymore, it was hurting him.  _

_ His feet were on the verge of giving up, his head not able to maintain coherent thoughts. Yet Jeonghan had to keep going, had to run for Seungcheol, for his baby, for Minghao, for his mother- _

_ He pressed his hand harder to the gaping wound on the side of his abdomen, trying to stop the bleeding. His bump wasn't that big yet, only four months along, but the baby, the baby- _

_ It was really hot around him, he was sweating so bad, he needed to head to his room in the palace, he needed to get away from here, runaway, they wanted to hurt his Seungcheol, the one he's loved for so long- _

_ The palace was coming into view. He had no idea what had happened to Seungcheol, he had yelled for Jeonghan to run while he fought the attackers, Jeonghan could only hope that Seungcheol was all right, please, please let him be all right- _

_ He slowed down, not wanting to rouse suspicions, and entered through one of the secret doors near the side of the palace, only two flights and he would be close to his bedroom- _

_ Luckily there was no staff, but when he opened the door to his room, almost passing out, there was Minghao sitting on his bed, scowling for a second before taking in the scene.  _

_ "Why did you take so long- Jeonghan is that-?!?" _

_ "Please, Minghao, not now." Jeonghan threw himself into his bed, pressing his hand tighter to the wound. "I can't, it hurts-" _

_ Minghao opened Jeonghan's nightstand drawers, pulling out random shirts, rolling them into a ball before giving it to Jeonghan. "Press this onto it, I'll be right back, should I call someone-" _

_ "No, please, they'll know," Jeonghan whined, pressing the clothing onto the wound. They immediately became stained with red. "Minghao, my baby, my baby, I'm going to lose them-" _

_ "You won't, Jeonghan, hold on-" Minghao rushed to the bathroom and grabbed as much medical supplies as he could. "I don't know- Jeonghan, I need to call someone, I can't-" _

_ Jeonghan could feel his head getting hotter. "Someone who knows, just someone who knows, please-" _

_ Minghao opened the bottle of alcohol and hastily poured it on the balled up shirts, pressing it towards the injured skin as Jeonghan let out a scream. "I'll be right back, Jeonghan, I'll be right back!!!" _

_ *** _

"Why did Si Cheng say he was gone again?" Takuya asked Yuta again, the two of them playing a game in Si Cheng's room. 

"Some important person is engaged, whatever." Yuta reached for more carrots that Si Cheng had prepared for them before he left. "Whatever."

"Oof, that sucks." Takuya wrote an x in one of the boxes, making a diagonal line. "I win!!!"

"Man, fuck you!!" Yuta threw the pencil at Takuya, the other yelping in surprise. "This is all your fault."

"Shut up, I bet you were thinking about Si Cheng again," Takuya argued, sticking his tongue out to the other alpha. 

"Says the one who literally left this hellhole to go see, I'm sorry, what was the dude's name again, didn't quite catch it."

"Not gonna throw it," Takuya said, creating a new game on the papers "I want to be X again."

"I don't want to play anymore."

"That's your problem."

  
  


\---

  
  


Hakyeon set down the big bowl of rice he had smuggled on his countertop. "Finally, free food."

"The only reason why we went," Taehyung confirmed, grabbing a fork from Hakyeon's kitchen and scooping up a bite, munching on it a few seconds before swallowing. "Pretty good."

"Leo, do you want some?" Hakyeon asked, the latter sitting quietly at the kitchen table. The three of them have left the gathering despite Hakyeon's parent's wishes, but since they were too busy talking with other parents about some omega with too much children, the three were able to escape unscathed. Although maybe his parents probably didn't want to say anything bad to Taekwoon. 

Said Taekwoon shook his head. "I'm good, thanks."

Taehyung picked up another bite. "This is some really good rice." 

"Tae, we should save some for  _ later," _ Hakyeon yelled, pulling the bowl away from Taehyung, who pouted. "You know my parents say we eat too much."

"Since when do you care?" Taehyung reminded him, leaning over for more. "It's not like your fat or anything, and even if, so what? You're healthy."

His parents had told him otherwise. "We just ate, we should save it for later."

Taehyung shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say."

  
  


\---

  
  


"MARK!!!"

Mark ignored the person who was calling, they probably meant Mark-

"LEE!!"

Or not. 

Mark Lee sighed, looking over to see Jackson run up to him. "What's wrong, man?" He said in English, not wanting anyone to overhear them. Their families were one of the few who knew the rare English language, so they used it whenever possible.

"I need your help," Jackson said, who Mark now noticed was carrying flowers in his hand. "Do you think Mark - not you, the other one - would like these?? What flowers do omegas like?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Jackson, not all omegas have the same preferences, they're not the same entity, you know," he said. 

"I know, but my mom says that they have a preference, so are these cool or not?"

Mark shrugged. "I don't know, I don't really care about flowers that much, neither does Donghyuck."

"Does he have friends who like them?" Jackson asked. "Weren't there two omegas he hangs out with?"

"Renjun is allergic," Mark said, "and Doyoung has a really strong biased preference towards tulips."

Jackson sighed, anxiously running his hands through his hair. "This is hard."

"Don't worry, man, you'll discover it along the way," Mark suggested. "Everything in life takes trial and error. Even if he doesn't like it, he should know it's in your best intention."

"It's just I've only flirted with other omegas before," Jackson admitted. "Never courting. And Mark - not yo-"

"I get it Jackson."

"Yeah, he doesn't like me, it's hard."

"You just got to try your best," Mark said, "and at the end of the day, if he doesn't like you back, you can't force him."

"True, true." Jackson stared at the flowers in his hands for one last time before tossing them to the ground. "I'm going to get him some pork bellies, his friend Jimin told me that."

"Hey, give me some pork bellies, too, Donghyuck got mad at me last time for burning them," Mark reminded him. "You promised."

"Sorry, Mark, but there's only one Mark who made a mark in my heart."

"Fuck you ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooooooooo y'all I'm so in love (LOVE) with hoshi like it ain't even a joke, also, if you like alphabat and target, they're having live concerts tomorrow and one ok Rock in a few hours 
> 
> Stay safe during quarantine lovelies :D also tags might change again


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its a struggle showing everyone's point of views, but i'm trying to manage XD  
sorry if im slower updating this story than the other ones! it takes more work and i hope you guys are still enjoying it

_ He was running. _

_ He had been running, not stopping once as the group of men chased after him- _

“Xiaojun, you okay?” Xiaojun looked up to see Kun standing at the doorway. “You looked like you were in a daze.”

Xiaojun shook his head. “No, I’m good, I'm just thinking.”

Kun entered the room and sat next to him, placing a hand on his back. “Do you mind me asking what it was about?”

“It’s just…” Xiaojun struggled to describe the faint memory. He rarely got them, and usually they were pretty stupid. Cooking, dressing, sewing -  _ that  _ had left him confused for a good amount of time. He knew how to sew? 

He knew how to do a lot of household chores, he had discovered. Maybe he was a maid in his past life? That would make a lot of sense; he had noticed injuries on his body where he must have been punished or something. 

But this memory was different. Why was he running? What brought him here? What  _ exactly  _ caused his amnesia?

Kun was trying to help him but there was only so much he could do. He had told Xiaojun that he didn’t need to cooperate in anything, but Xiaojun insisted, the two of them soon entered a pattern of dividing the chores equally. 

Recovering from amnesia was a lot harder than expected. 

Worse part is, there are such rare cases of it happening that literally no one knows what do to. The village people are very skeptical of him, claiming he’s been lying. Or at least, that’s what Xiaojun inferred, considering the harsh whispers and dirty looks; Xiaojun didn’t speak Korean, and Kun never would tell him if there were malicious commentators or not. 

It was all very puzzling to Xiaojun. 

  
  


***

  
  


The day after the engagement party, Chen Le’s parents rudely reminded him of his own engagement, so Park Jisung had come over to visit. 

Apparently, both of their parents struck up a conversation and whatnot and both expressed concerns of their children not getting married; Jisung for not being a good enough alpha, and Chen Le for not being a good enough omega. Course, none of them voiced this to the other but basically implying it for fear that their children actually  _ won’t  _ want to get married once they found out what a dumb ass the other was. 

So now, instead of going out to hang out with his friends, Chen Le was stuck helping his mother making dinner with her scolding him every two minutes. 

“Jesus, Chen Le, that’s not how you peel the potato, you leave blotches everywhere,” she said, hitting the back of his head, causing Chen Le to accidentally cut his finger. “God, now your finger is bleeding? You really don’t know how to take care of yourself, don’t you?” She yanked the knife and potato from Chen Le’s hand. “Stupid child,” she muttered. 

Chen Le tried to hold back tears as he grabbed a rag off the counter, pressing it on his finger to stop the bleeding. 

Yep, dinner was going the same as always. 

By the time they had finally finished preparing the stew and letting it simmer over the coals, his mother heard a knock on the door. 

“For crying out, child, you look like a mess and you’re going to see him like this?!” his mother pushed him out of the kitchen. “Hurry up and try to fix yourself!”

Chen Le’s father rushed to open the door, Chen Le sprinting towards the hallway to get dressed. He had been wearing his worst pair of pants and shirt since his mother had been making him do chores all day to look more presentable; he didn’t even have time to brush his hair today in the morning. 

He went into his room and immediately took off his clothes, rushing towards the drawers to find something a bit more presentable. He didn’t really have any good clothes and had used his favorite outfit yesterday, so he grabbed the second-best one he could find and slipped it over his head, grabbing a random pair of pants to put on as well. He didn’t have a mirror in his room, so he grabbed his comb and desperately tried to comb his hair back as much as he could. 

He didn’t want to court an alpha like this. He always dreamed of finding someone to love, like how his friend Jimin had found Yoongi. the two didn't plan on being engaged for that long, maybe two weeks, but the way they cared for each with so much love was something to admire.

Of course, it was highly unlikely that he was going to find an alpha that liked him back, so maybe it was for the best that he was going to be mated with this stranger.

Taking one last deep breath, Chen Le walked out of his room and entered the living room, where Jisung and his mother were being greeted by Chen Le's own mother.

She was the first one to notice him. “Oh, and here is my beloved son, Chen Le, sweetie, come here and say hi, won’t ya?”

  
  


***

  
  


Baekhyun was tired of picking up berries.

His arms really hurt and were covered with scratches so he really wanted to stop. However, he had promised Mark (Tuan, obviously) that he would bring some so that they could make some test muffins. Mark had committed to making all the dessert for Jimin’s union ceremony, so he was trying a variety of pastries to see which ones would be best, no matter how many times Jimin told him that anything was enough. 

After a few minutes, Baekhyun was enough. These were some common berries, dark red and purple, that didn’t exist before the Earth’s collapse. Back then, apparently alphas and omegas didn’t exist, and males couldn’t carry children. That sounded like heaven to Baekhyun, but there had been more violence and hate, and sexism between females and males. Didn’t sound pleasant. 

He crawled his way out of the bush and sat up, dusting the dirt from his hands. There were leaves all over him. 

“Baekhyun!!” He turned around to see Chanyeol, waving at him and now coming in his direction. “What are you doing?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “Picking berries, why?”

Chanyeol caught up to where Baekhyun was at. “Just wanted to ask you how yesterday went.”

Oh, right, yesterday, the engagement party. 

To be honest, it went surprisingly well. They were all shocked when they were being introduced to the omega, Junmyeon (so there  _ was  _ a mysterious Scoups and his family) but he was really nice. Jimin and Chen Le were the ones who mostly talked to him, but even Mark got into the conversation, too.

Yifan and Junmyeon’s relationship didn’t seem forced at all; they looked like they really liked and took care of each other, almost like Jimin and Yoongi. It was a surprise that the stupid officials didn’t pair Yifan with an omega that they wanted, though Junmyeon does look like the perfect omega, so…

“I liked it yesterday,” Baekhyun admitted. “It was cool.”

“Yeah, it is, I’m really glad Yifan is one of my best friends. He’s gonna be it soon if Shownu doesn’t stop stealing my food- anyways!” Chanyeol rolled his feet back and forth. “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go swimming in the river.”

Baekhyun raised an eye at him. “Swimming?”

“Yeah, if you want to.”

Baekhyun shook his head. “Sorry, I’m helping Mark bake something today,” he explained. 

Chanyeol’s eyes went wide. “Mark can bake??”

“Mark  _ Tuan, _ ” Baekhyun corrected himself. 

“Oh, right right, anyways,” Chanyeol turned to leave, waving at Baekhyun. “I’ll see you later then! Tell Mark  _ Tuan  _ his cooking is good.”

Baekhyun lifted his hand to wave back at Chanyeol, but… 

“Chanyeol!!” He shouted, the latter turning to look at him again. “What about tomorrow?”

Chanyeol blinked. “What about tomorrow?”

“I, uh…” Baekhyun hastily got up, accidentally tripping the wicker basket with berries. “Do you want to swim tomorrow instead?”   
  
***

  
“I can’t believe you made me snuck out to hang out with you guys by the river,” Taehyung said, grabbing a handful of the tiny amounts of sand. “I’m going to get in trouble.”

“So am I, but Leo here can get us out of it.” Hakyeon let himself fall back and float on the water, eyes close because of the sun bearing ahead. “Perks of being in love with someone lovely.”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes, continuing to draw on the sand with a stick he found. “They’re just pressuring me for when we are going to have a union ceremony, which is never going to happen.”

Taehyung dropped the sand he was holding, eyes going wide. “You guys aren’t going to get mated?”

“There’s no purpose,” Taekwoon explained. “Being courted or mated has no difference. Why court someone you don’t want to mate? It’s ridiculous. Plus, so much planning goes into union ceremonies, it’s so stupid and flawed."

Taehyung looked at Hakyeon, who was now swimming instead of floating, paying no attention to their conversation. 

That made no sense. Hakyeon always told him of how he dreamed of being mated with Taekwoon, how he had it all planned out in his head. Taehyung already knew that Hakyeon had given up his idea of having children because of Taekwoon, but…

They heard a thud from behind them in the forest, causing all three of them to turn around. 

“Did you guys hear that?” Hakyeon said, getting out of the water. 

Taehyung got up from the ground, dusting the sand of his shorts as he headed to the forest. “I’ll go check it out, it sounded really heavy.”

Ignoring Hakyeon’s comments of don’t die, he continued to walk deeper into the woods and wasn’t far in when he saw a lump on the ground. 

It was an alpha in black clothing, lying motionless on his back, clutching a round brown ball in his hands. Taehyung couldn’t see his face, so he walked closer and leaned it to see-

It was one of those alphas that hung out with Yifan, Jungkook if Taehyung could recall correctly. The one who-

Wait. The one that Taekwoon said had a crush on him?

Yeah, that was ridiculous, Taehyung was too ugly to get a mate, has been told many times. Still had no idea why Hakyeon bothered to hang out with him. 

He grabbed a stick lying on the ground and poked the alpha with it, not wanting to anger him and to hurt him. Jungkook probably wasn’t like that, having gotten so many praises from the elders, but still. An omega could never be too cautious. 

Jungkook groaned, rolling on his stomach, so Taehyung stopped poking him. “Hello? Alpha, are you okay?”

The alpha opened his eyes and blinked, getting up. The round object in his hands rolled off. “I think I fell,” he slurred, rubbing his eyes. He winced. “Ow, my head.”

Taehyung knelt down in front of him, touching the back of Jungkook’s head, feeling a small bump. “Did you fall off the tree?”

Jungkook’s eyes went wide. “You’re Taehyung.”

“Indeed I am.” Taehyung grabbed the ball that rolled away and handed it back to Jungkook, feeling how heavy it was. “You dropped this.”

“The majestic coconut!” Jungkook reached out his hands for Taehyung to place the…  _ majestic coconut _ .... on it. “It was in the tree, up there,” he said, pointing above them. “I can’t believe I found a coconut.”

“A coconut?” Taehyung tilted his head, confused. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“You bust it open first,” Jungkook explained. He got up from the floor and started banging the coconut on the tree. “This! Takes! A while!”

Taehyung watched as Jungkook continued hitting the coconut against the tree, when suddenly, it split in half, some liquid falling onto Jungkook. 

Jungkook pried it open with his hands, giving one half to Taehyung. The inside was all white, with some liquid still in it. “You can drink it,” Jungkook explained, taking a spit before spewing it out. “That’s disgusting!”

Hesitating, Taehyung tilted it to his lips, tasting the sweet liquid in his mouth. He swallowed it all. “It’s not that bad. How did you found out about it?”

“Yifan told me that back in the old days, there used to be beaches with these trees with coconuts, the palm tree I think.” Jungkook threw the coconut on the ground. “But now they’ve adapted to live in the woods. No idea how. But now I hate coconuts.”

“Hey, don’t throw that, it’s food.” Taehyung picked the over half of the coconut that Jungkook dropped. The liquid spilled out, but there was still the white stuff in it. “It’s sweet, maybe it can be used for something.”

Jungkook made a disgusted face. “Ew. I hate baking.”

Taehyung frowned. “Why? Because you're an alpha?”

“Pfft, no, because I burn my fingers.” Jungkook spread out his hands, wiggling his fingers. “Jackson Wang asked me for a favor to help him bake something and I kept touching the hot coals. Although getting caught on fire is pretty bad ass…”

“That’s because you need to wear a mitt to protect them.” Taehyung rolled his eyes. This was basic knowledge. “I’m not good at baking but even I know that.”

“Of course! Intelligence must be distributed! I get to know about the coconut, and  _ you  _ get to know about baking!” Jungkook exclaimed. “Creating balance in the universe.”

Taehyung laughed. “Whatever you say.”   
  


***

_ **18 Years Ago** _

_ “Hey, Soonyoung.” Soonyoung looked up to see his friend, Seungcheol. “I have an idea.” _

_ Soonyoung rolled his eyes. “What could it be  _ this  _ time?” _

_ “Hey, don’t be jealous that I get good ideas all the time.” Seungcheol sat down next to Soonyoung on the counter. “It’s a foolproof one.” _

_ “Your club wrap, Soonyoung.” Jihoon, the diner owner, handed Soonyoung his sandwich. “Hope you like it.” _

_ “Thanks, Jihoon, tell Seungcheol here he’s an idiot,” Soonyoung said, taking a bit of his wrap. “Mhhmm. Delicious.” _

_ “My idea isn’t stupid, you haven’t even heard it! Jihoon, tell him to stop being a selfish brat,” Seungcheol said, taking the wrap from Soonyoung’s hands. “Or I’ll eat this.” _

_ “You can’t eat that, that’s mine!!” Soonyoung whined, trying to wrestle it from the latter. Even though they were both bodyguards, Seungcheol was way stronger than him. “Jihoon, tell him to give it back!” _

_ “What am I, your mother? Guys, I’m trying to run- hello, what can I get you today?” he turned to the register, already talking to the customer that came in. _

_ “Give me my fucking sandwich,” Soonyoung whispered under his breath.  _

_ “Okay, but hear me out.” Seungcheol handed Soonyoung his wrap, who immediately started devouring it for fears of it getting stolen again. “We prank the princess.” _

_ Soonyoung spit some of his food out on the plate, disgusting Seungcheol. “Are you stupid?” Soonyoung spewed out, slurring his words as he still had food in his mouth. He swallowed before continuing. “Did you not just get your job back?” _

_ “Yeah but there’s an official there who promised me that I’ll keep my job.” Seungcheol took a bottle of beer from the counter, knowing Jihoon didn’t mind if he grabbed one. He’ll pay him back later. “He hates the prince more than I do.” _

_ “Uh, then why is he working at the palace, then??” Soonyoung asked, also reaching for a beer. “Doesn’t that concern you?” _

_ “Who cares? I’m getting paid anyways.” Seungcheol took a long swig of his beer. “Humiliating him would be the highlight of my career.” _

_ “Okay, well, how do you plan on doing that?” Soonyoung asked.  _

_ “Simple. I just have to earn his trust first.” _

  
  


***

Seungcheol looked out the window, where his beloved was tending some flowers in their garden. 

Jeonghan had his hair tied up, digging into the soil with his little shovel. Some plants have been wilting, so Jeonghan made some homemade fertilizer and placed them in the soil, patting the dirt down before giving the plants some more water. There was dirt all over his clothing, his fingers streaked with brown and black, beads of sweat falling down his forehead, but yet he continued on, taking care of them. 

“Appa.” Seungcheol turned around to see Junmyeon looking at him. He had two glasses of apple juice in his hands. “Do you want some?” 

Seungcheol shook his head. “No thanks, son, I’m good.”

Junmyeon nodded, setting a glass down on the counter. “Okay. I’m going to ask eomma.” 

Seungcheol watched as his son opened the sliding door, heading outside and exchanging some words with Jeonghan, who set down his shovel to take the glass from Junmyeon’s hands, taking a sip of apple juice. 

Why did he hate Jeonghan so much all those years ago? Jeonghan was the most lovely person he has ever met, so full of kindness, of love, and yet Seungcheol always doubted it. 

He remembers how he forced himself to hang out with Jeonghan in the beginning, the omega always excited to spend time with him. And yet Seungcheol took that excitement and crushed it, ripped it into pieces, and when Seungcheol made up with him, he had knocked him up, and Jeonghan lost everything for him. 

And yet, Jeonghan was over here, sipping apple juice while talking to their son, smiling, laughing, taking care of plants. 

He knew of the lies Jeonghan would tell Junmyeon. Almost everything he told his sun were true, from their positions, their friends, why they escaped.

However, Jeonghan refused to tell Junmyeon about was a jackass Seungcheol was to him in the past, describing Seungcheol as a sweet, kind gentleman who wouldn’t dare harm any innocent being, when he knew that Seungcheol treated him like shit and almost helped someone assassinate him. 

But that was Jeonghan for you. 

  
  
  


***

Shownu knocked on the door of his courted omega, waiting for an answer but..

Nothing.

“Kihyun!” He yelled. “It’s me, Shownu!”

He heard some shuffling going on inside. “Shownu, I think we have to reschedule,” he heard Kihyun’s muffled voice say. 

“Why? Is something wrong?” Shownu set his flowers down on the side of the door. “Is it okay if I come in?”

He heard someone turn the lock inside, and out came Kihyun, covered in a ratty blanket, and that’s when the smell hit Shownu.

_ Heat _ . 

“My head hurts and my legs feel sore,” Kihyun admitted. “I’m sorry, it came earlier than what I expected.”

Shownu was trying really hard not to get aroused. “It’s fine, here,” he said, picking up the flowers and handing it to Kihyun. “I hope you feel better, love.”

Kihyun’s cheeks turned red. “You didn’t have to, thanks.”

“Anything for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MONSTA X TEASERS YESSSSS  
a friend asked me why im jongkey_krisho when i dont have a single main jongkey fic, barely any krisho and like a 1000 yuwin. all im going to say is IM WORKING ON IT SORRY FOR HAVING A THOUSAND IDEAS


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NCT DREAM RIDIN WAS SO GOOD AND CHEN HAD HIS BABY IM D E V A STATED

“Eomma,” Junmyeon asked during dinner, picking up another spoonful of rice. “Why would they call you princess back when you were young?”

Jeonghan scoffed. “Because people had the stupid idea that only females could have long hair, and since I’m an omega thereby bottom by default, it would fit with their stupid sexist stereotypes.”

“The public used it as a form of endearment, though,” Seungcheol argued. He reached out for another piece of garlic bread. “No one did it to degrade you.”

“Sure felt like it,” Jeonghan muttered.

“Hey, the trainer Junhui had some pretty long hair at one point,” Seungcheol reminded him. “No one called him a girl.”

“Because he was an  _ alpha, _ ” Jeonghan argued. “Minghao called him princess as a joke and he got so defensive.”

“Junhui was a stuck-up bitch.”

“No he wasn’t!! He was so nice and caring!!”

“Jeonghan, you say that about  _ everyone _ .”

“No I don’t!”

Junmyeon continued eating his dinner while watching his parents bicker per usual. Seungcheol always liked to make fun of Jeonghan’s old friends. All Jeonghan had to do, though, was say one thing about Soonyoung or Mingyu, and Seungcheol would get defensive.

“Well, at least I don’t bump into chandeliers,” Jeonghan said. 

Seungcheol’s eyes went wide. “You take that back.”

“No, I don’t think I will-”

A knock at the door interrupted their bickering. 

“I’ll get it,” Junmyeon said. He pushed himself away from the table and headed towards the door. 

“Well,  _ someone  _ is eager to see Yifan,” Jeonghan whispered to his husband, already forgetting about Mingyu.

Seungcheol, who was about to bring up Minghao’s mullet from one time, lightly punched in on the arm, Jeonghan yelping. “I thought you said I can’t joke about that!”

“All I said was that he was eager!!”

Junmyeon opened the door to reveal Yifan outside, holding a weird red fruit. “Hey.”

“Oh, hey,” Junmyeon said, beaming. “What’s that?” he pointed at the fruit.

“Oh, this, this is um,” Yifan ran his fingers through his hair, which had been styled. “It’s a dragon fruit.”

Junmyeon had no idea what a dragon fruit was. “Oh, that’s cool.”

“Uh, I mean, it is.” Yifan kept tossing it from hand to hand. “It’s cool, yeah, but- oh, it looks different from the inside.”

“Really? What does it look like?”

“It’s like, white with black dots.”

“... hold on,  _ what? _ ”

“Yeah, uh, I can show you,” Yifan offered, handing him the dragon fruit. 

Junmyeon opened the door further, stepping off to the side. “Oh, you can, uh, come in if you want.”   
  


  
***

  
“Man, I wish Baekhyun were here,” Chen Le muttered. He was lying on the ground, staring at the sky. “I miss him.”

“You just saw him ten minutes ago,” Mark Tuan told him, taking another bite of the leftover rice. “He said he had plans.”

“Yeah, his plans include staring at the ceiling,” Chen Le reminded him. 

“You are  _ literally  _ just staring above-”

“You guys argue too much,” Yoongi said, picking at his cuticle. For once, it was Jimin and not him asleep, his fiance laying head on on his lap. He picked up a strand of Jimin’s hair and curled it around his finger. “I heard he was hanging out with Chanyeol.”

Both Mark and Chen Le turned to stare at him, eyes wide. 

“What do you  _ mean  _ he was hanging out with Chanyeol?!” Mark yelled. “Since when do they hang out?”

Chen Le sat up, rolling his eyes. “You can’t just expect to make jokes about him and Chanyeol and  _ not  _ expect them to hang out-"

“I don’t make jokes, that’s you and Jimin-”

“I only do it out of love!!” 

Jimin yawned in his sleep, mouth opened wide, and wrapped his hands around Yoongi’s waist, burying his head on the alpha’s stomach. “You guys are going to wake him up,” Yoongi warned the two loud omegas.

Mark grabbed a stick on the ground and pointed it at Yoongi. “I still have beef with you, alpha-”

“You have beef with  _ every  _ alpha. Me, Chanyeol, Jackson-”

“Don’t remind me of that  _ scum- _ ”

“But Jackson is really nice,” Chen Le argued. “And his friends are cool, too. Yugyeom, Bambam, Jinyoung-”

“Jinyoung is the pregnant omega, right?” Yoongi asked them. 

Mark gave him a glare. “How do you know he’s pregnant?”

Chen Le got off the ground. “Wait, he’s  _ pregnant _ ?!? But he’s not mated!”

“You know I talk to other alphas, right?” Yoongi reminded them. “Jaebum told me himself, since I saw him hunting more often. How did  _ you  _ find out?”

“Jinyoung told me himself, too,” Mark said, the two of them ignoring Chen Le’s shocked face. “They need to have their wedding ceremony  _ now _ -”

“It’s too late, though.” Yoongi wrapped his arms around sleepy Jimin’s waist, pulling him closer. “The elders are already suspecting.”

“-SO YOU GUYS ARE JUST NOT GOING TO INFORM ME WHY JINYOU-”

Mark clasped his hands over Chen Le’s mouth, muffling the latter’s yelling. “Shut the  _ fuck  _ up, Chen Le, we can’t have anyone eavesdropping.” To Yoongi, he said “how do the elders even know about it? He’s not even a month.”

Yoongi shrugged. “One of the official’s sons eavesdropped his conversation with Taeyong two days ago at the engagement thing-”

“Wait,  _ Taeyong? _ ” 

Chen Le took off Mark’s hand from his mouth. “Taeyong as in the one who everyone talks about?”

“Taeyong gets hated on since they think he got his union ceremony while knocked up. Even if Jinyoung gets mated, the baby will still be born soon and they’ll know.”

“Yeah, but it’s better to hear people talking shit than suffering a public beating!” Mark yelled. “Alphas literally never get punished for anything. It was both of them who produced a child, right?!”

Yoongi raised his hands up. “Look, it’s not my fault-”

Mark scoffed at him. “Yeah, right, there’s so many alphas here in this stupid village and you guys never speak up for us.”

“I literally try the best I can!” Yoongi yelled. Jimin was waking up on his lap, yawning as he fluttered his eyes open. “I speak as much as I can at the council meetings and you know that!

They heard Jimin mumbling in his sleep. “Mhm? What, what-” He sat up, wiping off some drool on his face. “What I miss?”

“Can we stop arguing?!” They looked at Chen Le (including Jimin, even though he was struggling to sit up). “Let’s just make sure nothing ever happens to him.”

“Happen to  _ who~ _ ” Jimin slurred, head falling on Yoongi’s shoulder. “What are we talking about?”   


“What do you  _ mean  _ we make sure nothing happens to him?” Mark asked. 

Chen Le shrugged. “We just stage an intervention.”   
  


  
  


***

The water wasn’t that cold. 

In fact, it was pretty warm. The sun was out and really bright, thus warming up the water. No wind, nothing gray and bland. 

Baekhyun, who had stuck his toes in the water, stepped in with both feet. At the very edge where he stood, the water only reached to an inch.

Taking a large step in instead, the water was now a foot up to his leg. Pretty soon, it would pass his shorts and shirt and swallow him whole. 

He looked over at Chanyeol, who was in so deep that the water reached the middle of the abdomen (and that was dealing with the fact that he was… “a tall motherfucker” as Mark would say). 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol splashed some water around him, some drops falling on Baekhyun. He had a big grin on his face. “Doesn’t the water feel really good?”

Baekhyun took some more steps in, the water reaching up to his waist. His shirt wasn’t fully wet yet, but the water reached the hem of the cotton shirt, making those parts translucent. He touched the surface of the water with his palms, making them wet. “It’s really warm.”

“Yeah, that’s why I like swimming when the sun is out.” Chanyeol went in deeper, landing on his back as he floated, hands behind his back looking up to the sky. “Sometimes I come with my friends, but there’s always at least one drowning attempt.”

Baekhyun swam deeper into the water, the water level now reaching his neck. He had to swim upwards a bit so that his head could stay above the water. “It’s the thought that counts, I guess. Mark also likes to beat someone sometimes, but mostly Yoongi.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Mark? He’s really chill though-”

“Mark  _ Tuan _ .”

“Oh my bad.”

They stayed like that for a while, floating around, staring at the clear blue sky. Every once in a while they would talk, mainly Chanyeol starting the conversation, and Baekhyun would answer him back, maybe playfully splashing each other. It was mostly a time to relax and just enjoy each other’s company.

  
  


***

Hakyeon and Taehyung were alone at Taehyung’s place, trying to make some homemade bread like their mothers have tried to teach them. 

“Taehyung, I think I put too much yeast.” Hakyeon showed Taehyung the pan he took out from the coal-powered oven. “Look at it.”

Taehyung’s eyes went wide. “Holy moly, you deflated the bread.”

“Is it edible?” Hakyeon asked. He felt bad for wasting ingredients. “It won’t kill us, right?”

Taehyung shook his head. “No, it’s just going to taste very yeasty.”

“Ay, do you think if we cover it in cream the taste will go away?” Hakyeon suggested. 

Taehyung opened the fridge, taking out a tub of cream. “We can always try.”

The two continued to work in a frenzy, trying to salvage the bread. They always burned or ruined food and their parents would constantly yell at them. One time, Taehyung was only allowed to have one bowl of rice a day for a week as punishment. 

After a while, Taehyung built himself the courage to ask Hakyeon a question. “Hey, Hakyeon?”

Hakyeon spread more cream on the bread. “Yeah?”

Taehyung bit his lip. “You remember what Leo said the other day?”

“.... about what?”

Taehyung sighed. “Hakyeon, I know you’ve been wanting a union ceremony even before you knew what it was.”

Hakyeon grabbed the dough out of the bowl and set it on the counter. “He doesn’t know that-”

“Nonsense, you always talked about it before you two started courting,” Taehyung said.    
  


His friend shrugged. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“But it’s not healthy to keep these things inside of you.” Taehyung took the dough away from Hakyeon. “Remember how you would gush about the food you want to eat at the ceremony? How you dreamt about your hanbok? Your first time together?”

“Taehyung, I don’t want to  _ lose him _ .” Hakyeon grabbed the dough and started kneading it. “It doesn’t matter if I want it or not because what’s the point if I won’t have him?”

“But, still though-”

Hakyeon handed him the dough. “I’m not good at kneading.”

And just like that, their conversation was over.   
  


  
***

“Eomma, eomma, guess what, guess what, guess  _ what?! _ ” Jungshin yelled at Taeyong halfway across the house. 

Taeyong, who had been giving belly rubs to Gunwoo and Gongchan, yelled back to Jungshin, who had run to the foyer. “What it is, my Jungshin?”

Jaehyun’s head popped into the living room. “Good afternoon, my love.”

“Appa is here, look, appa is here!” Jungshin yelled, clinging onto his father’s leg. 

Jaehyun bent down and lifted him up, the latter laughing as he tried to playfully hit his father. “Look at my big boy, do you know how much I miss you?”

“APPA!!” Gunwoo and Gongchan got up from the floor and ran towards Jaehyun, who set Jungshin down before attempting to lift up the twins, exchanging greetings with each other. 

“Eomma, right that appa is the best?” Jungshin asked, running into Taeyong. “Look, he also bought presents!” 

Taeyong laughed, holding his child in his arms. “What do you mean presents, I don’t see your appa with anything-”

“Actually.” Taeyong looked up at Jaehyun, who had set the twins down. “I did bring something, I set it next to the door.”

“I want to get it!” Jungshin shouted sprinting to the foyer.   
  


Jaehyun bent down to Taeyong and pressed a peck on his lips. “Hello, my love.”

Taeyong nuzzled his head on Jaehyun’s neck, hugging him. “Hello, my one and only-”

“EOMMA, LOOK!” They turned their attention to Jungshin, who was carrying a basket. “Look, it’s the mussels! Like last time, the mussels!”

Gongchan and Gunwoo surrounded their elder brother, staring at the contents of the basket. “Mussels, mussels!” They chanted. 

“You found mussels?” Taeyong asked Jaehyun, who was grinning. 

“Yeah, I know how much you like them,  _ so _ …” Jaehyun grabbed a mussel from the basket, handing it to Taeyong. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Oh, that’s okay, I’ll make it.” Taeyong got up from the ground and headed towards the kitchen when Jaehyun pulled him back by tugging his arm. 

“It’s fine, I can do dinner.” Jaehyun grabbed the basket from Jungshin, who was now mumbling some nonsense, and set it on the kitchen counter. “I want to do it.”

“You should rest, you just came back from working all day-”

Jaehyun gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Really, it’s no worry. Jian and Jongup are having their naps, right?” 

Taeyong nodded. “Yeah, although I should wake them up, Jongup cried for an hour because you were gone.”

“I hope he likes the mussels.” He pressed a kiss on Taeyong’s nose before taking out the cutting board. “As much as I love you.”   
  
  
***

_ **18 Years Ago** _

_ “Hey, Jeonghan!”  _

_ Jeonghan turned around to see Junhui running towards him. “Oh, hey Junhui, what’s wrong?” _

_ “Well, nothing’s wrong, it’s just that Seungcheol requested to speak with you,” Junhui explained. “Something about expressing his gratitude.” _

_ Jeonghan perked up. Seungcheol? Was asking for  _ him??

_ Surely this was a dream, right? _

_ “A-are you talking about the guard Seungcheol?” Jeonghan asked him. _

_ Junhui rolled his eyes. “Literally who else would I be talking about?” _

_ Jeonghan smiled. “He’s really asking for me?” _

_ “Jeonghan, you’re stalling aren’t you?” _

_ “No, but, oh no, no, no, I can’t see him like this-” _

_ “JEONGHAN!” Junhui grabbed Jeonghan and started pushing him down the large corridors to the throne room, where people who wanted to talk to the royal family or anyone important went. “He’s waiting for you, now stop stalling!” _

_ He let his friend lead him there, jittering the entire time. He still couldn’t believe Seungcheol was set to see him! Him! Yoon Jeonghan!! Surely this was a dream right? Yeah, it was a dream, and any second now, Minghao was going to wake him up, almost strangling him, and ask him to make his famous moon cakes.  _

_ Add the fact that this was unexpected made him even more surprised. What made Seungcheol want to come now??? _

_ He skipped his way to the throne, ready to see his crush. _

_ \--- _

_ “This is a  _ really  _ bad idea, Seungcheol-” _

_ “Soonyoung, I know what I’m doing.” Seungcheol shook his friend’s hand off him. “Look, all I gotta do is be nice, suck it up a bit and he’ll trust me in no time.” _

_ “Yeah, but I got to warn you, he’s not really the sucking-up-to type,” Soonyoung said.  _

_ Seungcheol frowned. “What do you mean?” _

_ “Well, I mean is that he’s more like the…” Soonyoung waved his hands, trying to find the right words. “He thinks those people aren’t genuine, so he doesn’t act the same way.” _

_ “So he fakes it?” _

_ “No, no, it’s more like he knows who’s real and who not,” Soonyoung explained. “So you have to be careful because he might know it’s an act or something-” _

_ They stopped when they heard the doors to the throne room open. “The prince is here,” Junhui said. _

_ Soonyoung and Seungcheol bowed down in habit.  _

_ “Hey, Seungcheol.” Seungcheol looked up to see Jeonghan, who was running towards him, smiling. “I was told you wanted to see me?” _

_ “Oh, yeah, that I wanted to take you for returning my job,” Seungcheol lied, bowing down again. “It means a lot to me-” _

_ “Oh, nonsense, that was already your job, it’s just the bosses here, they, you know-” Jeonghan shrugged. He stuck out his hand. “Yoon Jeonghan.” _

Everyone knows who you are  _ Seungcheol thought, but since he had to stuck it up and be nice, he extended his hand to shake Jeonghan’s. “Choi Seungcheol.” _ _   
  
_

_ *** _

  
“This tastes really weird,” Junmyeon said, taking another forkful of the dragon fruit. “But it’s still good. It’s like a good type of weird.”

“Like good, but just a foreign taste,” Yifan agreed. “I like it, it’s pretty rare but it’s one of my favorite delicacies.”

“Do you know any other fruit delicacies?” Junmyeon asked, resting his head on his arms on the table, looking at Yifan. “I bet they’re delicious.”

“Oh, they are. There’s this random brown fruit called the coconut, but you eat the white part of the inside,” Yifan explained. “There’s the watermelon, a big fruit that you also only eat the red part inside. There’s the mango, which you only eat the inside-”

“Wait, why can you only eat certain parts of the fruit?” Junmyeon asked, lifting his head up again. “Like this?” He pointed to the peeled parts of the dragon fruit that Yifan had taken off earlier. “Like, why can’t we eat that? But other fruits we don’t have to peel off the skin, like apples and berries? Like the banana, I had to peel that.”

“That’s a really good question and I don’t have the answer,” Yifan admitted. “But, to be honest, I don’t think any of these skins can kill you, it’s more like some of these also happen to be tasty.”

“Oh, so like my eomma,” Junmyeon pointed at Jeonghan, who was sitting at the couch with Seungcheol, the two adults pretending to ignore their conversation. “He says you can’t eat orange peels, and I tried it once and it was disgusting. However, one time he scraped off some parts of the skin and put it in a cake??"

Yifan covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. “Sounds like a murder case to me.”

“EOMMA!!” Junmyeon yelled, Jeonghan turning to look at him. “Are you trying to kill me??”

“Yep,” Jeonghan said, popping the p. “That’s what you get for drinking my apple juice.”

“What- that’s not fair!”

“It is fair!! It’s apple juice, there’s no negotiation!”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know you guys think this story is really tame rn but its not going to be that way any much longer
> 
> remember! i'll be updating more frequently! im stuck at home doing nothing so


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if you think the updates for this and 21 Students are slower, since they're longer chapters, it takes more time. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> I made a twitter account (Xiaoxiao Qian @jongkey_krisho) in case you guys want to follow for notifications on updates!

He woke up early in the morning to get some rice again. 

It was very early, almost dark outside, but if Johnny was honest, he had been up for at least an hour but couldn’t fall back to sleep. Might as well do some chores early. 

He picked up the basket and headed outside, enjoying the silence. He didn’t see anyone else in the village, which was a really rare sight - there were always people outside. 

The forest looked creepy to some people in the dark, but Johnny loved it. It felt really peaceful, just letting him be with his thoughts. It was nice hanging out with the alphas, though most of the elders and officials hate him, and he worked a lot for his family, but going to get rice, especially if it was in the night, was a very pleasing time for him indeed. 

Silence surrounded him everywhere as he walked through the forest, the only sounds being caused by an occasional animal here or there and his feet as they stepped on the leaves and dirt on the bumpy path. 

The bad part of it being really dark, though, was that he couldn’t see some of the branches, so he bumped into one and slipped on the ground. 

He let out a series of curses and groans as he rubbed his sore head and butt, staying there for a minute.

Height was a curse disguised as a blessing. 

When he finally sat up, still wincing at the pain, he realized that he had gotten his legs covered with scratches and dirt, a semi-deep cut already oozing out blood. 

He got up and picked up his basket from where he had dropped it and changed his route, making his way towards the river instead. It would be best if he cleaned himself up first. 

Arriving at the river, he noticed a lump on the ground, an omega. Surprised, he reached out to poke their shoulder, the omega turning their head around to look at him, startled. 

_ Ten? _

“What are you doing here?” Ten asked him, his voice shaky. He sat up to get a better look at Johnny in the dark. “It’s not even morning yet.”

“I can say the same to you.” Johnny sat down next to him, his wounds long forgotten. “What brought you here?”

Ten rested his head on his knees, looking out at the river. “I’m getting married off.”

…  _ What?  _

“I’m sorry, did you just say you’re getting married off?” Johnny asked, eyes wide. “Wh-what happened?”

“They’re bribing my parents,” Ten explained, wiping his face with his sleeves. Thank god it was dark, he did not want Johnny to see that he had been crying for a few hours. “Technically I have not been told, since I was eavesdropping the whole thing, but…” he shrugged. “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of it.

“Well, I mean there should be  _ something _ . Maybe lie and say you’re seeing someone already?” Johnny suggested.

Ten rolled his eyes. “Where am I going to find an alpha who will willingly pretend to be in a relationship with me? No one here does fake courting.”

Johnny’s hands were trembling. “I’ll do it.”

Ten looked at him, in shock. “Wait, really?”

Johnny nodded. “If you want to.”

“But that’s insane, you- wait, do you even  _ like  _ me in that way?”

Johnny could feel his face get warm, thank  _ god  _ that it was still dark outside. The sun should be rising soon, though, and he had yet to get the rice; that could wait, though. “I- I mean, yeah, but that’s not why I’m helping you though!” he exclaimed. “I just… feel like people shouldn’t be forced, so…”

Ten grinned. “So are we getting in a fake relationship or a real relationship?”

“Uh… whichever?” Johnny asked. “I mean… sorry, I’m not good at this.”

“No, that’s okay,” Ten reassured him. “... I don’t mind being in a real relationship with you.”

***

“Chen Le, where do you think you’re going?”

Chen Le, who had opened the front door to leave, turned around to see his mother. “I was going to hang out with my friends-”

“Jesus, child, do something more productive for once.” She handed him an empty basket. “Go gather some more berries, you idiotic father didn’t catch enough meat for dinner tonight, you’re going to have to eat something else.”

He took the basket from his mother, heading hung low. “I’ll be back,” he muttered, leaving the house in anger. 

His mother for sure loved to bother him about everything. Chen Le didn’t know why she hated him hanging out with his friends; Baekhyun, Mark and Jimin were nice and lovely. Did she think they were bad influences or something? What bad things could they possibly be doing?

Stepping into the forest, he set out to find some berries, gripping the basket in his hand harshly. Is it so bad to hang out with his friends so much? 

He decided to just gather some berries and then head on over later. His friends would understand, it’s not the first time this has happened. 

When he found some bushes filled with the common berries, he got on his knees and started picking the ripe ones, making sure none of them had pests or were spoiled. Once on a tomato, a worm came out and Chen Le almost killed it. Luckily, he pulled it out and set it on the ground so that it could go back to the soil. 

Nothing looked wrong with the berries he picked, so he quickly filled up the basket and made his way to where his friends would be waiting for him. He could handle no dinner and a beating tonight, it was  _ fine. _

While walking to where his friends were, the basket full of berries in his hand, he heard someone yell his name. 

“Chen Le!” He turned around and saw Jisung, who ran to catch up with him. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Right. They were courting. It was still hard to believe, though - this would be the second time that they have been alone, the first being when they first met and Jisung hit him thinking he was an animal. “Oh, I was just, um…” he lifted up the basket to show Jisung. “I picked some berries for dinner.”

“Oh, cool, cool.” Jisung stuffed his hands in his pockets. “That’s nice.” 

They stood in silence for a few seconds, trying not to look at each other. 

“Well, um, I’ll see you later!” Jisung said, laughing nervously, turning to walk away, until Chen Le impulsively grabbed Jisung’s sleeve, pulling him back.

“You can hang out with us if you want,” Chen Le told him. 

  
  
  


***

  
  


“Why did you bring your alpha here,” Mark Tuan harshly whispered to Chen Le. 

Chen Le shrugged. “He’s not doing anything bad, I don’t see the problem.”

The group of six (yes, six - originally it had started as four, but Yoongi had been hanging out with them for so long it just gradually became a group of five, and now with this Park Jisung here-) were chilling in their usual spot, Yoongi playing with Jimin’s hair, who along with Baekhyun were trying to talk to Jisung. 

“You know, for someone asking your hand, I thought they would be more…”Mark struggled to find the word he was looking for. “Energetic-no not that one, more…. outgoing?”

“Well, Jimin and Baekhyun are talking to him, I think that’s a good sign,” Chen Le pointed out. “Plus he doesn’t really know you guys, so…”

“Wait, so you DON’T like bamboo shoots??” Jimin yelled at Jisung in disbelief. “They’re so tasty!!” 

“I mean, I don’t know, I just find it weird,” Jisung admitted, his voice low. 

“Yoongi, do you like bamboo shoots?” Jimin asked his love, who had not piped up once in the conversation. To be fair, he rarely did, since he was always sleepy from working too much or just too preoccupied with Jimin, like now.

He was still playing with Jimin’s hair when he spoke. “Not a fan of them, no.”

“ _ What?!”  _ Jimin’s eyes were practically going to double in size at this rate. “What is  _ wrong  _ with you two?”

“Bamboo shoots are delicious,” Baekhyun agreed. “You guys are stupid-”

“Right, Chen Le, Mark, that bamboo shoots are good?!” Jimin yelled at his two friends who had been busy in their own little world. 

“They’re hella good,” Mark admitted. “You alphas don’t have any taste,” he added, pointing at Yoongi and Jisung. “I bet you don’t even season your food.”

“ _ I  _ season my food, thank you very much,” Yoongi yelled back. To Jimin, he whispered, “we can still have bamboo shoots at the wedding.

  
“Thank you, I was going to cry,” Jimin said, giggling as Yoongi pushed a hair strand behind his ear. “Yoongi, go play with your own hair.”

“My hair dry as shit, no thank you.”

Mark leaned closer to whisper in Chen Le’s ear. “Five golden pieces that you’re going to be like that with Jisung in a month.”

Chen Le glared at him. “You’re crazy-”

“YOU DON’T LIKE CHESTNUT EITHER?!”

  
  


***

Yuta was woken up by someone shaking his shoulders aggressively. 

“Yo, dude, wake up, we have to do something,” he heard Takuya’s faint voice waking him up to consciousness, and that’s when he smelled it. 

An omega was going through heat. 

Yuta sat up quickly, yawning as he tried to be fully awake. Yep, it was definitely an omega in heat. 

“Si Cheng fell asleep last night,” Takuya explained, pointing to a sleepy Si Cheng, who had been sewing. “And he’s in heat, shouldn’t he wake up or something?” 

“Let’s just wait in the living room,” Yuta suggested. “Besides, his mother already knows we’re here, no thanks to your frequent adventures to see that Shin guy.”

“That’s actually his surname, thank you very much.” Takuya got up from the floor and left the room, leaving Yuta to follow after him. “But there’s apparently someone else who goes by that name, so he just calls himself Shin.”

“Yo, that sucks.” They left the room quietly, letting Si Cheng have his privacy, hoping he would sleep comfortably despite being in heat. 

  
  


***

_ “Do you want me to show you around?” Jeonghan asked, excited that he was finally exchanging more than three sentences with  _ the  _ Choi Seungcheol.  _

_ Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s no worries, I work here anyways-” _

_ “Nonsense, they only show you the boring places,” Jeonghan insisted. He suddenly got an idea. “Are you hungry?” _

_ “No, not really-” Seungcheol’s stomach chose to betray him, emitting a low rumble that he was sure Jeonghan heard. _

_ “I can show you the kitchen!” Jeonghan grabbed Seungcheol and led him through the grand hallways of the palace, bouncing with joy with each step he took. “I can make you something.” _

_ Seungcheol rolled his eyes but let the prince drag him around. The idea of food  _ did  _ sound good to him, and plus, didn’t Jeonghan had a reputation for being one of the best bakers and cooks in the kingdom? _

_ To be fair, Seungcheol thought people exaggerated. They were just saying that since he was part of the royal family; if he were a peasant, no one would be saying that. Jihoon was a really good cook, and he never got compliments. (To be fair, the grand percentage of people who went to his diner were half-drunk alphas, so…) _

_ Food was food, though, and the palace was known for having fancy ingredients anyways, so it wouldn’t hurt to eat something here anyways. Plus, he was with the prince, so no one could tell him shit.  _

_ When they arrived at the massive kitchen, there were already some chefs and cooks busy at work, cooking up some elegant meals. Seungcheol was pretty sure he saw some lobsters.  _

_ Jeonghan led him to a corner where there wasn’t anyone. “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?” Jeonghan said, letting go of their hands. He grinned an awful lot to Seungcheol’s liking. It was kind of annoying. _

_ Seungcheol was about to ask if he had any normal food, but figured it was probably rude enough to get his head cut off. “I heard your mooncakes were delicious." _

_ “You probably heard that Minghao, he always whines about them.” Jeonghan opened a cupboard and grabbed a set of bowls and measuring items. “Once he asks about them everyday, they get easier and easier to make.”  _

_ “Prince Xu Minghao?” Seungcheol asked, already knowing the answer. It was well known how close the two princes were each other. To be honest, it did settle the tensions between the two Kingdoms.  _

_ “That’s the one.” Jeonghan pulled out some more ingredients and rolled his sleeves up, grabbing an elastic band from his wrist to tie up his long hair. “‘Kay, so we need the flour, the vegetable oil…” he trailed off, listing ingredients as he pointed to each one he had set out. Some Seungcheol didn’t know existed. _

_ Seungcheol watched as Jeonghan made the dough in the mixing bowl, talking to Seungcheol throughout the whole process. He watched as Jeonghan made the filling and wrapping the whole pastry together, laughing when Seungcheol accidently bumped the bag of flour, his whole face covered in white powder. Seungcheol threatened to throw some at Jeonghan and he did, leading the two to end up throwing flour at each other, the mooncakes long forgotten.  _

_ There were still some cooks and chefs in the kitchen, and some were about to scold them before realizing it was a guard with the prince, though, so they let them be, shaking their heads at the teen’s antics.  _

_ The thought of him being a prince that let him get away with anything never crossed Jeonghan’s head, too busy on having fun with his crush, Seungcheol, the two eventually tiring out and desperately trying to clean themselves up to go back to the mooncakes.  _

_ And Seungcheol? Well, he forgot that Jeonghan was the prince - for a few minutes, anyways.  _

_ Those were some good few minutes. _

  
*** _ _

  
  


“So eomma says that for this is the perfect way to make a cupcake,” Junmyeon instructed Yifan, pouring some flour in the mixing bowl.

“Wait, aren’t you going to measure it?” Yifan asked, confused. Junmyeon had poured it straight into the bowl.

Junmyeon shook his head. “Nah, once you do it a few times, you know how much is an amount just by looking at it.”

The two were at Junmyeon’s home in the kitchen, where Seungcheol was busy with the officials and Jeonghan out picking apples (Seungcheol drank all the juice  _ again _ ), leaving the two alone. Yifan had promised to help Junmyeon make a dessert,but he didn’t know how to bake much, 

Yifan had brought Junmyeon some more assorted berries to see if they could use it for anything, so Junmyeon had decided to make a mixed berry frosting on vanilla cupcakes, decorated with strawberries and kiwis. A bit fruity, but it was okay - they both liked fruit.

“So I just mix the frosting-” Yifan held up the whisk that Junmyeon had given him. “With this?"

Junmyeon nodded, cracking an egg to his mixture. “Yeah, and it has to be well, since the berries can alter the texture.”

“Got it.” 

The two continued making the dessert, exchanging small talk (mostly Yifan asking if he did something wrong) when they heard the front door open. 

Junmyeon looked up to see Seungcheol, who was taking off his shoes. “Appa, what are you doing here so early?”

Usually Seungcheol would have joked about being casted away from his home, but he didn’t say anything, a frown plastered on his face. “Where’s Jeonghan?”

“He went to pick apples,” Junmyeon said, pointing to the back door. “He said he’ll be here in a bit-”

“Shit, he shouldn’t have done that.” Seungcheol threw his jacket on the couch and slid open the backdoor, not even bothering to say hello to Yifan as he went outside. 

“Appa, where are you going?” Junmyeon dropped the spoon he had been holding and followed his dad outside, who was heading straight towards the forest. “Appa!”

“Stay inside with Yifan and lock the door,” was all Seungcheol told him before he headed off to find his love.

  
  


***

A few miles away from the village in the forest, there were two best friends playing in the woods. 

They lived in the Kingdom of Kaeleous, ruled by an old king with a lost heir. The omega prince was never found, and there were rumors that the king, along with his second wife, the queen, were due to die any day now.

Of course, the two friends weren’t really concerned in politics or whatever. No, they were more concerned about this mysterious hollow tree that they had found in the woods behind the alpha’s house. 

“Do you think an animal lives here?” Seungkwan asked, trying to jump against the tree to see inside. “I don’t see anything.”

Unfortunately, the two were around the same height. “I don’t see anything, either,” Vernon replied, sighing. “Damn, it looks really interesting.”

“At least this is right near your house,” Seungkwan added, jumping one last time to try to see the inside. However, he accidentally landed on the wrong foot, so he fell backwards onto a pile of leaves. “Ouch.”

Vernon rolled his eyes before extending his hand out to pull up his best friend. “Seungkwan, you have to be more careful about these things.” 

“Shut up, Mr. Oh, I’m an alpha and I love danger!” Seungkwan mocked him, wincing. “My back hurts.”

“At least you don’t have scratches,” Vernon said, looking over Seungkwan’s legs. “Plus, tripping because of jumping has nothing to do with danger.”

“Yeah you’re right.” Seungkwan dusted off the dirt that was now staining his pants. “Guess I don’t pass the bad boy test.”

“At least you  _ pass  _ tests,” Vernon muttered. “If my dad finds out about my grades, he’s not going to let me live it down.”

“You act like Mr. Kwon is rude,” Seungkwan said, grabbing Vernon’s hands before they made their way together to Vernon’s house, which was a good ten minute walk from where they were currently located. “Yet I still don’t know why he’s afraid of Mr. Lee.”

“Eomma’s nice, he just knows how to beat up people,” Vernon agreed. “But appa says that when he was a guard in the palace back in the day, you know with his friend Seungcheol, eomma wouldn’t hesitate to put them in his place.”

“I stan your eomma,” Seungkwan stated, swinging their linked arms together. “He makes the best avocado wraps."

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“Pfft, when am I not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I have a writing project in the works called "Expand Unknown Bands" where I write for small kpop group fandoms on AO3. If you guys have a request, let me know! My first story for the kpop group Great Guys is up, I highly recommend hearing their music, it's really good.)
> 
> Anyways, beware of tag changes in the story! (I didnt add them before to not spoil anything - don't worry, it's nothing triggering, more like the appearance of characters)
> 
> Things in this story might start getting a bit... angsty, fluffy, smutty, etc...


	12. Chapter 12

Si Cheng walked out of his room, his stomach in pain. His heat had started this morning two weeks in advance, and he always hated having it. 

He’s pretty sure every omega in this godforsaken village hated their heats, but apparently they weren’t that bad compared to rumored people who lived outside the village. His mother often told him that where she came from, a lot of omegas needed sex in order to get through it, and alphas would use that as an advantage. He shuddered just thinking about it. 

Si Cheng would get severe cramps and often couldn’t do anything, so his mother would take pity on him and do the chores around the house for about a week, which is how long it lasted. He always felt guilty leaving her to do the work, but the pain would be too much. 

He stumbled his way through the kitchen and opened the box of herbs that his mother always left on the counter. There was a tea blend that she makes for him that soothes his stomach a little, and he needed some  _ now.  _

“Hey.” He turned around and saw Yuta standing nearby. “Is… is everything okay?”

Si Cheng bit his lip and shook his head, his knees locking in together. “My stomach hurts so I just wanted some tea.”

“Oh, I can do that for you.” Yuta reached out his palm, grabbing Si Cheng’s hand. “You should go lie down, I’ll make the tea, don’t worry.”

“No, it’s fine, promise- ow!” Si Cheng clutched his stomach harder, collapsing on the floor. 

Yuta scooped up Si Cheng in his arms off from the ground, the latter whimpering in pain. “I’ll take you to your room.”

  
*** 

Mark Tuan made his way back to his house when he saw Jackson off in the distance, talking to the other Mark. 

As usual, Jackson was being the loud, eccentric man he is and Mark Tuan couldn’t bring himself to walk up to him and talk to him. However, he remembered the plan his friends had set up earlier, and so he took a big breath and forced himself to take a step forward. 

Jackson and Mark Lee paid no attention to him, the two continuing their conversation, until Mark Tuan was a good twenty feet away. 

Jackson took note of him first. “Hey, Mark!!” He exclaimed, waving cheerfully at Mark Tuan. “How are you?”

Mark Tuan hesitated. God dammit, why did he have to care about people? 

He reminded himself that it was for the good of Jinyoung. Jinyoung and no one else. He wasn’t here to make small chat with Jackson, he was here to Jinyoung because he hates all of the people in the village who have power. And the parents who were idiots that had no basic fucking respect for their children, like Chen Le’s parents. God, how he hated Chen Le’s parents. 

Remember, Tuan, this was for Jinyoung. 

He gave a small wave at the two friends. “Hey.”

“Hey Mark, I want you to meet- uh, ah, shit, what am I supposed to call you?” Jackson said to Mark Lee. 

“I really don’t care, I just fucking hate Minhyung,” Mark Lee said. 

“Minhyung it is!”

“DON’T YOU DARE BITCH-”

“Jackson, can I talk to you alone for a second, it’s kind of urgent and it involves your friend,” Mark Tuan said. “Sorry…. Mark.”   
Mark Lee waved him off. “Nah, don’t worry about it, have fun with this loser. Jackson, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Bitch, remember you still owe me chocolate chip cookies!” Jackson yelled after the alpha Mark, who soon left the two alone. “What is it that you want to talk to me about?” he told Mark Tuan. 

Mark froze for a couple seconds, forgetting the one-minute conversation that he had prepared in his head. “Uh… so me and my friends were talking right?”

“Your friends like Chen Le, Baekhyun, and Jimin?” Jackson asked. 

“Those are literally the only friends I got but continue,” Mark said. “Wait, no, I was the one speaking- man fuck this shit, it’s about Jinyoung, we’re worried.”

Jackson made an ‘oh’ face, looking away while scratching the back of his head. “So you’ve heard about it.”

“Jinyoung told me himself and Yoongi from Jaebum,” Mark explained. “But yeah, what are you guys planning on doing?"

“It’s a bit… tough, not gonna lie,” Jackson started. “Jaebum is, well… they’re considering running away.”

Mark's eyes widened. “R-run away?”

Jackson nodded. “Yeah, even if they get a union ceremony officially, Jinyoung can still get punished for it, so, there’s really no other choice.” 

Mark tightened his fists. “You guys are just going to let them?”

“Jaebum isn’t going to risk Jinyoung getting hurt,” Jackson stated. “Trust me, none of us are going to let that happen, but unfortunately, that’s the only solution we’ve been able to find.”   
  


***

Jeonghan was in the forest, basket in his hands full of apples when he saw Seungcheol running towards him from a distance, shouting his name. 

His initial smile turned into a state of confusion when he saw Seungcheol’s worried face. “Seungcheol? Is everything okay?”

Seungcheol caught up to his mate, stopping to catch his breath. “We have to go inside."

“Why, it’s not going to rain as far as I know of,” Jeonghan said, pointing to the sky; it had its normal bright blue color, a random cloud here and there. “Wait, what about Junmyeon-” 

“He’s fine, don’t worry.” Seungcheol grabbed Jeonghan’s wrist and led him on the path back to their house, where they could see Junmyeon outside waiting for them, Yifan beside him. “You guys all have to hear this.”

They walked up to the house, where Junmyeon immediately started bombarding his father with questions. “Appa, what’s going on, is everything all right?”

“No, unfortunately not.” Seungcheol ushered Jeonghan inside the house, and then to Junmyeon and Yifan “Go in, I don’t want you outside anymore.”

“Seungcheol, can you tell me what the hell is going on?!” Jeonghan exclaimed, carelessly setting the long-forgotten basket with apples on the counter, glaring at his husband. “Please, just tell us now.”

Seungcheol slid the glass back door closed and locked it. “Yifan, I think it’s best if you go home-”

Junmyeon grabbed Yifan’s arm, clutching his fingers around Yifan’s wrist. “He can stay,” Junmyeon pleaded. “It’s fine, I trust him.”

Jeonghan’s eyes widened. “You better not say what I think you're going to say,” he whispered. 

Seungcheol just stared at his love, guilt in his eyes. 

“No, Seungcheol, no, you, you  _ promised  _ it would never happen,” Jeonghan cried out, his voice cracking. A tear fell down his eye. “No, tell me, Seungcheol, no-”

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol whispered. “I don’t know how they found out.”

“... Appa, what did- what did they find out?” Junmyeon asked slowly.

Seungcheol sighed. “I heard some officials talking about your eomma and I from being from Kaeleous. More specifically, your eomma being you know… the missing prince.”

“Wait, Kaeleous?” Yifan asked, confused. “Isn’t that the old kingdom from centuries ago that doesn’t exist anymore?”

“Yifan, I have no idea what they’ve been telling you, but it’s probably lies,” Seungcheol said. “Isn’t it weird that they never talk about other villages, other places? Why do they only want you guys here?”

“That makes no sense, I mean, there’s the Chinese immigrants, heck,  _ I’m  _ Chinese,” Yifan argued. “Why would- why would they block people from leaving or coming?”

“Last time they had Chinese immigrants come in was over twelve years ago,” Seungcheol explained. “Think about. That couple, Woojin and Chan? Why do they always claim they’re dead, they probably just ran off.”

Yifan shook his head vigorously. “No, you’re wrong, my father, he wouldn’t be a cruel person- wait a second.” He looked away for a few seconds, deep in thought. “Who were the officials that you heard talking, was Hyunsuk with them?”

Seungcheol squinted his eyes at Yifan. “What do you know?”

“He disagrees with my father about everything and I get the feeling he isn’t a good person. It’s rumored that he mistreats his wife and has mistresses, and they keep a lot of things they discover a secret,” Yifan explained his reasoning. “I never liked him, he’s the reason why me and my friends discover you guys’ existence in the first place.”

“I knew that bitch had something to do with it,” Jeonghan muttered under his breath. “Since day one,  _ since day one _ , he’s always hated us.”

Junmyeon thought of an idea and knew his parents were going to be against it. However… if his parent’s lives were at risk, then so were these people, too, they had to be warned. “Eomma, give me your drawings.”

“Drawings?” Jeonghan asked, confused. “What drawings, Junmyeon?”

“Of your friends,” Junmyeon explained. “I’m going to find Minghao.”

***

Taehyung was having a very good nap when he heard his parents yelling at him. 

He woke up disoriented, his head moving from side to side as he slowly opened his eyes. “WHAT IS IT, EOMMA?!” He yelled, rolling his neck until he heard a crack.

The yelling was indecipherable, so he took off the thin ratty sheet that he was allowed to use as a blanket and put on his slippers before heading out of his room. Blame it on his parents for never letting him get some rest after forcing him to pick rice for a few hours. 

Taehyung walked down the hallway slowly, still half-asleep, when he bumped into his mom on accident. “Sorry, eomma,” he apologized, bowing down furiously so that she wouldn’t hit him. 

His mother must have not had energy today or something, since she merely rolled her eyes at him and gave him a push to continue walking down the hallway. “You’re idiotic friend is here again. 

Ah. Hakyeon. Taehyung’s mother did not like Taehyung being friends with Hakyeon, but she wouldn’t dare make herself look disrespectful in front of the omega. That was the type of fake person she was. 

Taehyung walked through the living room and opened the door, revealing a tired Hakyeon on the step, clothed in his pajamas while barefoot. He was dotting some bruises along his jaw. “Can I stay here for today?” he asked. “If it’s not much trouble, that is, your mother was very annoyed when she saw me.”

Taehyung opened the door wider. “Come on in,” he said, once again being reminded how much he hated Hakyeon’s parents as well. 

  
  


***

Kihyun’s heat was finally becoming bearable. 

It’s been going on for a few days now, but all he felt was sadness and anger, plus his usual cravings for sugar, but now he felt a bit better, thankfully. 

His heats weren’t usually that bad compared to other omegas, but it had been hard to push away Shownu for a few days. He liked hanging out with the latter and always had a small crush on him, so imagine his surprise when Shownu was confessing his feelings in the middle of nowhere. 

But now his heat was over, and he could see Shownu again. 

It’s not that he didn’t trust Shownu, he did. It’s just that when he’s near an alpha during his heat, his hormones often went crazy and made it unbearable. He didn’t know why it did that, it was a rare case in alphas, but it made him more emotional and he didn’t like it; the last thing he needed was Shownu to see him cry for three hours over a glass of spilt milk.

Kihyun was cleaning the living room after falling back on his chores for the past days. Some trash and clothes have accumulated, but it wasn’t much at all as he picked it all up and organized the mess. He lived alone, his mother having died years ago, so it was all his doing. He tended to be lazy during his heats, too. 

He wrapped his favorite blankets around himself and went outside his little hut, sitting on the small porch that he had built a year ago and sat down, waiting for Shownu to arrive. 

The alpha didn’t even take five minutes; Kihyun was able to see him from a distance, walking on the cobblestone street, a bamboo basket on his head. Shownu must be bringing rice balls again; those were his favorite meal to eat at any time of day. 

Shownu was such a sweetheart. 

  
  


***

  
  


“I think I had a family,” Xiaojun said randomly during dinner. 

He had helped Kun earlier make a simple meal of stir-fried noodles, and the two had been eating in silence when Xiaojun spoke up. The omega was not getting his memories back as fast as he should have been, so hearing this meant progress. 

Kun swallowed the bite of noodles he had taken and spoke up. “What makes you think of that?” he asked softly. 

“I always see… this woman that takes care of me,” Xiaojun explained. “Me and a little girl. I called her mei mei, but I can’t recall what I called the older woman.”

“Do you remember anything in particular with them?” Kun asked. “Maybe, I don’t know, something that led you here at the village?”

Xiaojun stayed silent for a bit, thinking, but ultimately shook his head. “No, nothing… out of the ordinary, I guess.”

  
  


***

Taeyong finished preparing lunch for his kids when he heard a knock on the door. He had been making pork strips with rice and green beans while his children played around in the living room. 

Jungshin, the oldest, was the one who stopped playing, realizing it was Jaehyun, who always came around during this time. “Appa is here, appa is here!!”

Taeyong wiped his hands on a rag as he watched Jungshin stumbled his way towards the foyer, where Jaehyun would open any second. However, the knocking continued. 

That was unexpected. Did Jaehyun forget his keys in the morning? Taeyong was certain he hadn’t; Jaehyun wasn’t a forgetful person, and he always laid out his stuff on the counter the evening before, and there was nothing there this morning, meaning he must have taken all his stuff with him. 

Confused, Taeyong walked behind Jungshin, lifting him up and putting him behind him. “Go back to the living room with your brothers, okay? Don’t worry, I’ll tell appa you were the first one to wait for him.”

“But I want to see appa!!” Jungshin exclaimed, fists in the air as Taeyong heard another knock on the door. Jaehyun wasn’t even calling out his name. 

“Go with your brothers, okay?” Taeyong whispered. “I’ll tell you when you can see appa.”

Jungshin crossed his arms, pouting as he stomped his way back to the living room, his appa soon forgotten when he started yelling at Jongup for grabbing his favorite blanket. 

His son now gone, Taeyong looked out the peephole of the door, where he could see two officials outside. That explained all of Taeyong’s questions about Jaehyun, but it left him with more. Why were the officials here? More importantly,  _ where  _ was his husband?

Taeyong opened the door to greet them, not caring whether he was presentable or not. People judged him anyways. “Good afternoon,” he said, bowing down politely. “What brings you here?”

“We’re here to look through your alpha’s stuff,” one of them said, pushing past Taeyong to enter the house. 

Startled, Taeyong tried to pull him back. “Hey, you can’t trespass in here-”

“Jung Jaehyun is in custody, we have every right.”   
  
  


***

“There is  _ no  _ way that I’m letting you walk out that door,” Seungcheol said, pointing at Junmyeon. “You are staying here where it is safe.”

“But they can help us, I’m sure!!” Junmyeon yelled at his father. He doesn’t remember the last time he raised his voice at his parents. “Besides, eomma, you tell me every night how much you miss them,” he said to Jeonghan more softly. “Don’t you want to see them again?”

Jeonghan stayed quiet, looking away from the two, while Seungcheol continued to yell at Junmyeon. 

“Look, son, I love you, okay? I can’t let you risk your life, especially not now,” Seungcheol said, trying to control his anger. “You know there’s a reason why we came here.”

Junmyeon balled his fists. “You can’t stop me, appa-”

“Kim Junmyeon, now is not the time to argue,” Jeonghan said, stepping in between the two. Both his husband and his son looked away from each other, while Yifan stood there awkwardly watching the whole exchange. “Seungcheol, please don’t get mad at him.”

“I’m not arguing-”

“I’m not mad-”

“No, the two of you, stop it, it’s  _ my  _ fault we’re in this position in the first place.” Jeonghan looked at Yifan. “What  _ exactly  _ have they told you about us?”

Yifan had no idea what was going on nor what they were asking him for but tried to answer as much as he could. “Well, I know a lot of them are against you being here, but… I’m sorry, they don’t really talk to me about you, but at the engagement party they kept asking me questions about you guys.”

“That doesn’t tell us a lot,” Seungcheol muttered when he noticed Junmyeon leaving. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m going to my room,” Junmyeon said, marching his way up the stairs. “I have stuff to do-”

“What could you _ possibly _ -”

“Seungcheol, I said don’t yell at him,” Jeonghan shushed him. “Let him be mad, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Yifan left the kitchen as well, standing at the bottom of the stairs, yelling after Junmyeon. “Junmyeon, are you okay?”

Junmyeon ignored him, so Yifan followed him upstairs, chasing after the one he was pretty sure he was in love with. 

***

Back in the kingdom of Kaeleous, the two friends Vernon and Seungkwan became tired, so they decided to leave the woods. 

Vernon and Seungkwan returned back to Vernon’s house to find his father at the kitchen counter, piles of tissues all around him, his mother nowhere in sight. 

“Uh, appa?” Vernon said, Seungkwan quiet behind him. “Is everything okay?”

Soonyoung didn’t look up, unaware that his son and his best friend had entered the house.

Vernon stepped closer into the kitchen, standing in front of his father. “Appa? Where’s eomma, maybe he can-”

“He’s gone,” Soonyoung muttered. “Your eomma is gone.”   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i'll be updating regularly now?? sorry i had internet issues thanks to covid19 issues (I'm safe, btw!! no worries!!) remember to stay safe during the pandemic and the protests, and remember #BlackLivesMatter


	13. Chapter 13

_ Junhui rushed into Jeonghan’s room, a tiny baby Luhan in his arms. “Have you seen Minghao- WHAT THE FUCK?!” _

_ Jeonghan was lying on his bed, a bunch of shirts pressed against the side of his abdomen, stained with red. “Not now, Junhui, please,” he cried out, moaning in pain.  _

_ Junhui set his child down on the bed between two pillows to make sure he didn’t fall over before taking the ruined shirts from Jeonghan. “Did you get stabbed?!” he yelled at him as he ran into the grand bathroom, coming back with towels to try to stop the blood flow. “What happened?!” _

_ “Not now, Jun, please~” Jeonghan slurred, turning to his side, curling into a ball. “It  _ hurts.”

_ Minghao walked into the room, Soonyoung close behind him. “I found Soonyoung, I know guards get first aid training,” he explained, pushing Soonyoung into the room. “Help him, please.” _

_ Soonyoung’s eyes widened when he noticed Jeonghan had been stabbed. “What happened-” _

_ “WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR QUESTIONS!!” Minghao screamed. “GO HELP HIM!!”  _

_ “Where’s your first aid kit and does Seungcheol know?!” Soonyoung yelled at Minghao.  _

_ “Minghao, get it while we try to stop the blood,” Junhui told his love, pressing the towel tighter to Jeonghan, the latter whimpering. “We can ask questions later.” _

_ Minghao took out everything and handed it to the two as Junhui and Soonyoung struggled to stop the wound, thankful that it wasn’t too deep and was near the side, so there was a chance that the baby in Jeonghan’s stomach wasn’t injured at all.  _

_ However, what Soonyoung noticed was that, based on the location of the stab wound, Jeonghan’s heat gland, which regulated omega’s heat and fertility, was struck, so Jeonghan was most likely never going to get heats again, and thus never have another child.  _

_ He didn’t say any of this out loud, though, as he put on the last roll of bandages and gauze on the omega, who had quieted down. Jeonghan’s eyes were closed but didn’t appear to be asleep.  _

_ “Where’s Seungcheol?” Soonyoung asked again, pulling up the blanket to cover up Jeonghan.  _

_ Minghao picked up his baby, who had started crying after all the commotion. “I don’t know, Jeonghan just walked in here with the stabbed wound and didn’t tell me anything-” _

_ “We were near the forest,” Jeonghan whispered. His eyes were opened and filled with tears. “And they started attacking me, and he was trying to fight him off-” _

_ “I’ll go find him, you guys stay with him for now,” Soonyoung ordered, rushing out of the room. “And don’t let anyone know!” _

  
  


***

Yifan followed Junmyeon to what must be his room, he figured; there was a small bed at the corner, some decorations hung up here and there, and Junmyeon in front of his wardrobe, stuffing some clothes into a bag. 

He knocked on the opened door, startling Junmyeon. “Can I come in?” he asked softly, not wanting to anger him any more than necessary. 

“You can’t stop me,” Junmyeon muttered, setting his bag on his bed.. “I’m going to go find them.”

Yifan stepped into the room, watching Junmyeon continue to grab stuff and pack it. “Can you tell me more of your eomma’s friends?” he asked, trying to calm the omega down. 

Junmyeon opened his top drawer and took out a scarf, staring at it in his hands. “Minghao was his best friend,” he said softly, running his fingers over the soft fabric. “He was Chinese, like you.”

Yifan walked closer to Junmyeon, standing in front of him. “Why don’t they see each other anymore?”

“Because eomma got pregnant with me and people we trying to kill appa and…” Junmyeon shrugged. “It became a huge mess so they just escaped.”

“So you’re going to find them,” Yifan finished for him. “And help them reunite.”

“Precisely.” Junmyeon placed the scarf carefully in his bag, zipping it up. “You know, I grew up with my eomma telling me about his stories with Minghao, Junhui, and appa with his friends Soonyoung, Mingyu, Jihoon, and all the others, and I always felt a bit guilty,” he said quietly, slinging the bag onto his back. “This was not the life they were supposed to have.”

Yifan bit his bottom lip, watching Junmyeon put on his shoes. He really had no idea how to convince Junmyeon to stay; there was a reason no one in the village went out of the forest after all. You only went through the necessary lefts to gather some food and hunt animals and that’s it. It was a dangerous world out there…

“I’ll go with you,” Yifan said finally, making eye contact with Junmyeon. “Maybe your parents will ease up knowing you're not going alone.”

Junmyeon’s eyes widened. “Why?” he asked, confused. “You can get hurt, too.”

“But at least I can make sure you won’t,” Yifan admitted. “Let me tag along with you.”   
  
***

Taeyong tried to push the two official alphas out of his home, but it was no use; they were much stronger than him. 

“Please leave, you have no right to be in here!” he screamed at them, only for one of them to swing their arm at him, knocking him to the ground. 

“Shut up, omega,” he sneered at him, making his way into the house. 

Jungshin and Jian came to check out the commotion. “Eomma, eomma! You fell!” Jungshin yelled, holding onto Taeyong’s arm and trying to lift him up with his five-year-old strength. “Eomma!”

“Appa? Where’s appa?” Jian asked, following one of the officials who entered the kitchen. “Excuse me, sir, where is my appa-”

“Oh, right, we’re at the baby maker’s house,” the official said, opening the kitchen drawers and dumping all of the contents on the counter top. “He must have it hidden  _ somewhere _ .”

The other official was climbing up the stairs, heading to the second level. “Jaehyun’s really going to get it-”

Taeyong managed to get himself up, pushing Jungshin and Jian. “Don’t talk to those men,” he whispered to them, opening the foyer closet. “Don’t ask for appa.”

“Eomma, what’s going on?” Jungshin asked, holding onto Jian’s hand. He sensed something was wrong if those men hurt his eomma. “Eomma?”

Taeyong took out the long blade that Jaehyun left in the closet in case people tried to hurt Taeyong while he was home alone. “Go to your brothers, please, Jungshin.”

Jungshin nodded, pulling Jian along to the living room, where their siblings had stopped playing, wondering what was going on. 

Taeyong stood behind the official in the kitchen, who was now rummaging through the cabinets. He pointed the blade at the alpha’s back, who saw it when he turned around. “I thought I told you to get out of my house.”

“Am I supposed to feel intimidated by an omega who suddenly feels powerful with a sword-”

Taeyong lunged forward and stabbed the official in the shoulder, the latter grasping it in pain.

“Leave us alone!!” Taeyong yelled, pulling the blade out. “Jaehyun hasn’t done anything wrong and you’re just intruding our home!”

“You have no idea what your alpha did, don’t you?” the official said, laughing. “Oh, that’s right, all you can do is spread your legs for him, right?” he stepped closer to Taeyong, backing him against the counter top. “Why don’t you do it now, huh, since that’s all you’re good for-”

“You’re fucking sick in the head,” Taeyong muttered, not caring that he cursed. “If it weren’t for Jaehyun, I would think that you alphas are all brawn and no fucking  _ brains _ -”

The official lunged at Taeyong, attempting to wrap his hands around the omega’s neck, so Taeyong stabbed him as a reflex again, this time piercing the official’s side. 

The one who went upstairs was coming back down, yelling “I couldn’t find anything- what the fuck?”

“He’s been stabbing me!” the injured one yelled, pushing away from Taeyong and heading to the door. “We can deal with him and his stupid children later!” 

Taeyong watched as they left his house, holding the blade steady in his hand, wondering how much trouble him and Jaehyun were in now.

  
  


***

  
  


“Do you remember that omega a few years ago, the one who was murdered along with his parents?” Jimin asked Chen Le. The two had been walking in the outskirts of the forest, trying to collect fruit; Jimin, because he wanted to make something for Yoongi, and Chen Le who had been ordered by his mother. “Did they ever find who did it?”

Chen Le shook his head, placing his basket over his head. “Not that I know of.”

Jimin sighed. “I feel really bad for him,” he continued. “A lot of bad stuff happens in this village.”

“There’s not much we can do about it, though,” Chen Le said, kicking a tiny rock. “What’s the point of wanting to be an adult if they’re going to find a way to make your life miserable.”

“I’m sure we can think of something,” Jimin suggested. “Does Jisung know you’re being forced? I think he really likes you, he’s just shy and he’s probably doubting himself wondering how he managed to court you.”

Chen Le shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t really talk to him much.”

“See? He’s just shy,” Jimin concluded. “You shouldn’t be- hey, is that…” Jimin pointed to a figure in the distance running towards them. “Mark?”

“Which Mark?” Chen Le asked. 

“Our Mark.” Jimin waved his basket in the air, drawing attention to them. “MARK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Mark Tuan caught up to where they were, gasping for air. “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I came as quick as I could.”

“Why are you running, you’ll tire yourself out,” Chen Le scolded Mark. “Besides, we’re just picking fruit.”

“Oh, I was thinking of making Yoongi a cupcake with the common berries,” Jimin told Mark, placing his basket on Mark’s head just like Chen Le. “What do you think?”

“Normally as your friend I would be supported but now is not the time for this discussion,” Mark said. “We have bigger problems at hand.”

Chen Le frowned. “Did you get into a fight with another alpha again?”

Mark faked a surprised gasp. “How dare you assume that of me- although to be fair, I just hope you think I would win in a fight.”

“JUST TELL US WHAT HAPPENED!” Jimin shouted, shaking Mark’s shoulders. “You know I don’t like suspense!”

“Okay, okay, just let me breath for a second!” Mark said, the basket falling from his head. “Jaebum and Jinyoung are running away.”

Jimin stopped shaking Mark’s shoulders, staring at him wide-eyed. “They’re  _ what! _ ”

“Don’t talk so loud, you don’t want anyone to hear you,” Mark said, lightly slapping Jimin’s shoulder. “But yes, Jackson just told me earlier.”

“But… the forest, they can’t go out in the forest,” Chen Le complained. “It’s not safe. And the two of them, alone? How would they even survive?”

“That’s where Jackson told me that he and Yugyeom are thinking about tagging along,” Mark continued. “Youngjae is definitely going and Bambam is unsure, since you know, someone from the Thai families leaving will certainly cause a commotion.”

“So… six people are leaving?!” Jimin harshly whispered. You never who could be hiding in the forest eavesdropping. “All of them?”

“Not six, seven,” Mark corrected him. 

Chen Le counted on his fingers, whispering each name silently until he lifted up a sixth finger. “It’s six, who’s the seventh one?” 

“Me,” Mark stated. “I told them to add me, so they got 7.”   
  


***

Jungkook stood in front of Taehyung’s door, coconut in hand, as he debated knocking or not. 

He has only had one coherent conversation with Taehyung once, as in one time. ONE TIME! He felt like the only one of their friend group who can’t even have a basic conversation with his crush. Seunghyun even had plans to ask out Jiyong, for crying out loud, and Johnny had apparently good news with the boy that he often saw when he picked rice. 

That left Jungkook the only one still single!!

He thought giving Taehyung a coconut as a courting gift would be a good idea, considering how the latter actually liked it, compared to Jungkook who thought it tasted like shit. Jungkook found a lot more coconuts, though, and they had to be eaten  _ somehow _ . 

Giving one to Shownu yesterday had turned out to be a mistake, as he spit it all over Yifan’s face and the two almost had a brawl. Which is why Yifan had decided to spend the day with his fiance instead and Shownu with his mate. 

Wait, why did  _ they  _ get to court omegas?!

That’s it, it was time for Jungkook to man up and ask for Taehyung’s hand right this instant. 

He knocked on the door, hiding the coconut behind him, as he waited for Taehyung to answer the door. 

Taehyung answered, wearing some very cute pajamas, his hair messed up as he rubbed his eyes. When he recognized Jungkook, though, his eyes widened, trying to fix his hair. “Jungkook alpha, what are you doing here?”

Jungkook showed him the coconut, placing it on his palm. “I came here to give you a gift,” Jungkook said, clearing his throat. “And, um, ask a question.”

Taehyung stared at him for a few seconds before opening the door wider. “You can come in,” he said, “and, uh, thanks for the… coconut, right?”

“Oh, yeah, the coconut, I have a lot more if you, uh, want.” Jungkook stuffed his hands in his back pocket, taking a step into the small cabin. “Your place looks nice.”

“My friend is over, I hope you don’t mind,” Taehyung said, walking into the living room. “We can go to my room-”

“KIM TAEHYUNG!” they both looked at Taehyung’s mother who was in the kitchen. “You brought  _ another  _ person over? What is this, a damn hotel?!” 

Taehyung sighed. “Ma, he came to ask me a question and he gave me this,” he explained. 

His mother came out of the kitchen, rag in her hands. “And who do you think- oh! Jeon Jungkook!” she hastily bowed down. “It’s a pleasure to have you in our household.”

Jungkook raised an eye but didn’t say anything. “Yes, uh, ma’am, I came here to talk to your son,” he said, bowing down as well. “I don’t mean to cause any trouble.”

“No, not at all! Actually, I was just about to make dinner, feel welcome to stay if you want,” she said, heading back to the kitchen. “Taehyung, please show him around.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes, walking towards the hallway. “Hakyeon didn’t get a warm welcome,” he muttered. 

“Oh, he’s your omega friend, right?” Jungkook asked. He always saw Taehyung with an omega Hakyeon and his mate, alpha Taekwoon. “You guys are always together.”

“Correction, he’s my  _ only  _ friend.” Taehyung pushed open his bedroom door, where Jungkook could see Hakyeon on his bed, wiping his injured face with a washcloth. “Yeonie, someone came to visit.”

Hakyeon looked at Jungkook, frowning. “Coconut dude?”

“Yep, we got another coconut.” Taehyung placed the coconut on his nightstand. The room was really cramped, Jungkook noticed, and with the three of them in there, it felt crowded. “But yeah, Jungkook, this is my friend Hakyeon.”

Jungkook bowed down to Hakyeon. “Pleasure to meet you-”

“It’s really not,” Hakyeon interrupted him, placing the dirtied washcloth in the small water basin Taehyung had on the floor. “But you do you.”

“No, really, it’s nice to see you and Taehyung get along,” Jungkook insisted. 

Hakyeon raised an eye. “Are you here to like ask him to court you?”

“Hakyeon, don’t say stuff like that!” Taehyung yelled at him. To Jungkook, he said, “sorry, he likes making jokes.”

Jungkook’s face turned red. “Well, uh, to be honest…” Jungkook tugged at his shirt collar, feeling like he couldn’t breathe. “Uh, that’s kind of why I came…”   
  


  
***

“Are you sure you don’t want a union ceremony?” Johnny asked Ten for the thousandth time that day.

Ten nodded, squeezing Johnny’s hand tighter. “It’s not like I would have anyone to invite anyways.”

“Yeah, me neither, I have like, five friends but their families don’t like,” Johnny agreed. He looked at the town hall in front of him, gulping. “Think the officials will hate us?” 

“The ones trying to marry me off, maybe, but I doubt they do paperwork of people joining a union.” He laughed. “Oh, I’m surely going to get disowned.”

Johnny looked around them, where some people in the village were walking around in the streets, eyeing them curiously. “If people give you any problems, just remember you have me as a husband,” he said, half joking and half being serious.

“You’re going to be my husband in ten minutes,” Ten said, eyes widening at the realization. “Holy shit, you’re going to be my husband in ten minutes.”

“Yeah, I have yet to process that fact,” Johnny said. He looked at Ten. “Should we head inside now?”

“Oh, yeah, totally before someone starts yelling at us.”

Ten minutes later, they were legally married.

***

“Shin!!” he turned around to see Takuya shouting his name. “You picking bamboo?”

He lifted up his basket to show Takuya, who was running towards him. “It’s for dinner!” Shin shouted back at him. “I’m going to steam bamboo shoots.”

Takuya caught up to him, grinning. “Love bamboo shoots,” he said. “Really tasty.”

“Indeed they are.” Shin set down his basket and grabbed his machete. “Scoot back, I need to chop down more.”

“I can help!” Takuya exclaimed, holding out his hand. “Let me do it, I’m alpha.”

Shin frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Alphas stronger?” Takuya asked. “Easier for me to chop bamboo.”

Shin glared at him before returning to chop down the bamboo. “I can do it.”

“But I can help-”

“I get it, Takuya, you think us omegas are weak as fuck,” Shin said harshly, cutting down the bamboo stalk. “You guys really all are full of yourself.”

Takuya held out his hands. “I don’t think you’re weak,” he said, trying to explain himself. “But usually alphas get more training. And omegas here in the village don’t, right?”

“How do  _ you  _ know that?” Shin asked him. “Do you know another omega here?”

Takuya nodded furiously. “Yes, Si Cheng, he’s helping me and Yuta hide. He says omegas here treated badly.” He pointed at the machete in Shin’s hand. “If you work too much, you pull muscle and get sore, need to be careful.”

Shin stared at him for a good ten seconds before finally handing over the machete. “You really are something, Takuya,” he said.

Takuya grinned. “I like you,” he said before cutting off another bamboo stalk in one swing. “You a good omega.”

***

Junmyeon headed down the stairs, Yifan following close behind him when he stopped at the sight of his two parents sitting quietly at the kitchen table. “Eomma.”

Jeonghan looked up to him as he came down the stairs. Junmyeon noticed that he had dried tears around his eyes. “Junmyeon, hey.”

He tried to hide the bag behind him. “Hey, eomma… appa.”

Seungcheol looked at Junmyeon, standing up from his chair. “Before you go, let me give you something,” he said, heading to the foyer. 

“I- appa.” Junmyeon reached out and grabbed onto Seungcheol’s sleeve, stopping his father. “Please don’t hate me.”

“Junmyeon, I could  _ never  _ hate you,” Seungcheol said, looking at him. “You know… it’s just always going to be hard for any parent to give their child freedom.”

Jeonghan wiped his face with his sleeve. “Seungcheol, can I make a joke about your wisdom right now?”

“Absolutely not, you drank my green tea this morning.” Seungcheol let go of Junmyeon and opened the foyer closet, taking out a box on the top shelf. “If you’re going to travel, you need to have this things-”

“Appa, you know I can’t handle a weapon,” Junmyeon reminded him. 

“Trust me, you’ll know how to use it when you're panicking.” Seungcheol opened the box and handed Junmyeon a gun, the chamber filled with bullets. “Try not to use it, a lot of people like the villagers here don’t know about these weapons.”

Junmyeon hesitated, handing over the gun, not wanting to quite grab it yet. “Please tell me the safety is on.”

“You guys really think I’m stupid, this is how it’s going to be,” Seungcheol scolded him. “I was not a guard for so long to deserve this mockery.”

“Seungcheol, you know that statement means nothing when even Soonyoung was a palace guard,” Jeonghan reminded him.

“I beat Junhui in a fight once, don’t test me.” Seungcheol held out the gun again. “Junmyeon, you’re not leaving this house without a weapon.”

Junmyeon grabbed it without thinking, stuffing it in his waistband. “I don’t like weapons.”

“We don’t like violence yet here we are.” Seungcheol took out a packet and handed it to him as well. “Here’s the drawings, keep in mind it’s been 17 years, they’re going to look much older, and ONLY trust these people. No one else.”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can hate me, its okay
> 
> I WILL LIVE UP TO THE HAPPY ENDING TAG, THOUGH, DONT DOUBT ME


	14. Chapter 14

“You can’t just leave!” Jimin shouted at his friend Mark Tuan. “Are you insane?!”

“It’s only  _ temporarily,  _ idiot!” Mark shouted back at him. “I’m not going to stay there forever!”

Chen Le grabbed the basket and smacked it onto Mark’s head. “MARK! You can’t leave!!”

“It’s  _ not  _ forever!!” Mark repeated again. “It’s only for a little while, it’s safer to help them find somewhere to stay if we go as a group of seven then if they go alone.”

“But there’s nothing out there,” Jimin said. “No humanity left. There’s only the place where the Chinese immigrants come from and rumor has it, it’s a barren wasteland! What place can they find?”

Mark sighed, taking the basket from Chen Le, since he kept hitting him with it. “LISTEN TO ME!! As I was  _ saying _ , from what Jackson has heard, apparently the officials have been hiding a lot of stuff from us,” he explained. “Remember that kid and his parents who were ‘killed’? The disappearance of Woojin and Chan? Why Taeyong and Jaehyun married so young? A lot of of it has to do with the officials-”

“So they’re…  _ bad _ ?” Chen Le finished for him. “I expected it, to be honest. They make us omegas have a bad life.”

“But we don’t know anything about the outside,” Jimin insisted. “Mark, please, think this through, I know you have to help Jinyoung, but this could be bad for everyone."

“Well, we have to do  _ something _ ,” Mark said. “It’s not like we’re close to anyone who might have information on the officials anyways.”

Chen Le grabbed the basket from Mark, hitting Jimin with it to get his attention. “Do you think we can ask…” he whispered. 

Jimin stared at him with wide eyes. “Baekhyun would never allow it-”

“What does Baekhyun have to do with it?” Mark asked them. 

“Well, duh, the guy in love with him,” Chen Le explained. “Chanyeol, remember? He’s one of the most known alphas in the village  _ and  _ he’s friends with Yifan, the son of the chief! If anyone other than the officials know anything, it has to be them!”

“We can’t just go to Chanyeol and ask him stuff!” Mark yelled at him. “I don’t even know the guy!”

“ _ We  _ don’t, but Baekhyun  _ does,” _ Chen Le corrected him. “So let’s just ask Baekhyun if he can do anything. It won’t hurt to try, right?”

Jimin sighed, shaking his head. “You both are insane.”

“So are you, future Mr. Min,” Mark pointed out. “You’re friends with us in the first place.”

“That is true.”   
  


  
***   
  


They had been walking for merely ten minutes, and now Junmyeon was getting worried. 

He has never walked this far from his house. He couldn’t recognize anything out here at  _ all _ . Sure, the vegetation was all the same; familiar species of trees, of bushes, of small animals that he would see. 

Everytime he stepped a few yards from his house, it comforted him to know that he could always look back and see the garden, where his eomma always spent his time working on helping the plants grow better. He would be able to see his appa, either having a conversation with his eomma or busy working, but knowing they were always behind him…

His stomach was suddenly feeling very bloated. 

“Are you okay?” Yifan asked him. Of  _ course  _ Junmyeon had forgotten that Yifan was tagging along with him. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Junmyeon gulped, wiping the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s fine, it’s all mental anyways,” he said. “It’s just weird being this far away from home- are you sure you’re not going to say anything to anyone?” he asked, trying to dodge the question. 

Yifan shrugged. “I wrote a quick letter and gave it to Shownu, I know he’ll let our friends and my father, though, it’s fine.”

Junmyeon nodded frantically, looking away. “Yeah, okay, at least you left them something.”

After that comment, they continued walking in silence, the only sounds in the forest coming from the hidden animals here and there and the sound of their feet crunching the leaves. 

“Can you tell me more about your parents and their friends?” Yifan asked, trying to break the tension. “How they meet, that kind of stuff, you know.”

Junmyeon smiled, thinking of all the dumb stories his eomma would tell about him and his friend Minghao. “From what I know,” he explained quietly, “my eomma was hopelessly in love with my appa, with the feeling being mutual.”   
  


***

  
  


_ Jeonghan was hiding behind the other side of the wall, watching Seungcheol from afar. The guard was talking to one of his alpha friends, a guy the same height from him with crazy green hair. If Jeonghan remembered correctly, the friend was named Soonyoung. _

_ He kept watching them when he jumped, feeling someone touch his shoulder. Startled, he turned around and saw- _

_ “Are you staring at your imaginary boyfriend again?” Minghao asked, taking a bite from his muffin, ignoring Jeonghan who kept hushing at him. “What?” _

_ “He doesn’t know I’m here!” Jeonghan harshly whispered at him, turning around to stare at Seungcheol again. “I like watching him.” _

_ “That’s- that’s kind of stalkerish but I do the same thing with Junhui, so you’re forgiven.” Minghao wrapped his hands around Jeonghan, the latter not even noticing. Minghao swore that Jeonghan had heart eyes. “Didn’t you bake with him the other day?” _

_ Jeonghan grinned like an idiot. “It was so romantic-” _

_ “Remind me never to talk about Junhui- holy, Jeonghan!! Jeonghan!!” Minghao dropped his muffin and shook Jeonghan’s shoulders, remembering why he tried to look for Jeonghan in the first place. “You will not BELIEVE what just happened to me half an hour ago, I almost forgot since I was hungry-” _

_ “Minghao, you’re HURTING ME!” Jeonghan yelled at him.  _

_ Minghao let go of him. “My bad. ANYWAYS! So Junhui asked me if I wanted to go eat with him somewhere to this diner, I think the owner is someone named Jihoon? BUT ANYWAYS I’M GOING TO EAT WITH JUNHUI!!” _

_ The two engrossed in their own conversation, they didn’t notice Seungcheol and Soonyoung far away, noticing their commotion.  _

_ “You know, I’ve never gotten used to seeing the two princes together,” Soonyoung told Seungcheol, watching Minghao scream on Jeonghan’s face.  _

_ Seungcheol rolled his eyes, walking away. “They probably think they’re above us or whatever-” _

_ “No, they’re not like what you would expect a noble to act like” Soonyoung admitted. “Your normal prince or princess wouldn’t be baking all the time and feeding all the workers here-” _

_ “It’s just so that they can look good,” Seungcheol stated. “You think they actually care?” _

_ Soonyoung didn’t answer, watching the two friends argue about Junhui, one of Soonyoung’s friends. He was one of the best trainers in the kingdom, after all. “I’m asking you to reconsider,” Soonyoung told Seungcheol, crossing his arms. “I know you have something planned next week during the gala, and knowing the King, you’ll be tried for treason-” _

_ “It’s fine, Soonyoung,” Seungcheol said. “Jeonghan won’t even know it’s me.” _

_ Soonyoung sighed. “Okay, but I’m not going to take part of this, the last thing I want is to die because of some stupid prank.” _

_ “I’m not going to die-” _

_ “Yeah you are-” _

_ “No-” _

_ “Yeah-” _

_ “Liar-” _

_ “Even Jihoon told you this was a bad idea,” Soonyoung reminded him. “And Jihoon is always right.” _

_ Seungcheol rolled his eyes. “You talk about him as if you were in love with him or something.” _

_ “Pfft, no, never,” Soonyoung said. “I would die the first three days of our marriage. Does he even like kids?” _

_ “No, since he doesn’t like you and you act like one-” _

_ “HEY!” _ _   
  
_

***

“Eomma, eomma, are you okay?” Jungshin came stumbling to where Taeyong was at the doorway, holding a crying Jian’s hand. “Eomma? Where’s appa?”

Taeyong turned around to look at his child. Without a second though, he dropped the blade he had been carrying and fell to his knees, wrapping his hands around his two sons to give them a tight hug. 

“Appa will be fine, okay?” Taeyong murmured in their eyes, playing with the soft strands on their hand as Jian continued crying, Jungshin staying quiet. “I’m going to go find him and sort out this mess, okay?”

“Did appa do something bad?” Jungshin asked quietly, making eye contact with his eomma. “Why did those men want to hurt him?”

“I- he didn't’ do anything, love, there’s… there’s just a misunderstanding,” Taeyong tried to explain to them. “Your appa is a good man, he wouldn’t hurt anybody.”

He got up from the floor, carrying a crying Jian in his arms. “Tell your brothers to put on your shoes, okay?” he asked, patting Jian’s back. The 3-year-old wouldn’t stop crying. “I’m going to take you guys somewhere that’s safe.”   
  
***

“Uh- can you repeat that part again of what, you, uh, said about why you came?” Taehyung asked nervously. 

Jungkook gulped, not believing he outed himself like that. “I just- I just wanted to ask permission to court you,” he said, softly this time. This is what he gets for listening to Shownu’s advice. How he got together with Kihyun was just pure luck. 

Taehyung stared at him, mouth open. “Uh… I’m flattered?” he said finally. “But… uh, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Jungkook frowned. “Wait, what do you mean good idea?”

“I mean…” Taehyung moved his hands, trying to explain himself but couldn’t come up with the right words. “Uh-”

“I’m going to get a drink of water,” Hakyeon said, interrupting the awkward duo. They had momentarily forgotten that Hakyeon was even there. “Take your time.”

Hakyeon got up and left the room, leaving the two alone. 

Jungkook spoke up again. “You don’t have to agree- I mean, I don’t want it to seem forced,” he stammered, “I… I just really like you?”

The way he ended the sentence sounded more like a question, and, despite what Taekwoon had told him and Hakyeon some time ago about Jungkook acting infatuated with Taehyung... 

That’s just not what happens to omegas like him. 

“Okay, I’m assuming this is the part where I act like I’m flattered,” Taehyung finally said. “But I’m still confused about what you see with me when we have only spoken to each like, once, and it’s like I’m handsome or can do omega chores well-”

“You’re pretty handsome,” Jungkook interrupted him. “A lot. Where did you get that idea?”

Taehyung rolled his eyes. “I’ve had these exact conversations with Hakyeon, you’re not going to change my perspective.”

“But I mean- okay, if you say so,” Jungkook said, even though he knew that was a big lie. “But… okay to be fair, I started liking you a few months ago."

"That's impossible but continue,” Taehyung said. 

“It’s just… I don’t know, everytime I look at you and I see you hanging out with Hakyeon, laughing, having a good time, just being relaxed, it’s nice,” Jungkook admitted. “And I was scared of approaching you which is why you startled me the other day when I was trying to get a coconut, I  _ swear  _ I wouldn’t have been there if I knew you were there.”

For a split second Taehyung’s mind went back to that weird ass coconut fruit, and he looked at the coconut Jungkook had just brought him today, sitting there on his nightstand. “Look, Jungkook, let’s be honest,” he stated. “You think you like me. So what’ll happen is you’ll court me, my family gets obsessed with this idea that I have an alpha finally, but then you realize what a mess I am and you stop courting me, then I get tormented by my family for the rest of my life until I day by the age of 23 or something.”

“I would- I would never do that,” Jungkook muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, “Taehyung, I wouldn’t do that-”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Taehyung interrupted him. 

“Oh, sorry.”

“ _ However _ ,” Taehyung continued. “I... look, I wouldn’t…  _ mind  _ courting you,” he explained. “But I would prefer if we kept it a… secret.?

Jungkook’s eyes lit up. “You wouldn’t mind courting me?”

How this man could get excited by hanging out with a loser like him was unbelievable but okay. “Yeah. And  _ don’t  _ think you’ll have your way with me just because you’re an alpha.”

Jungkook shook his head frantically. “No, never, I would never do that- holy, I forgot I was meeting Seunghyun today!” He ran past Taehyung, opening the door before turning around and giving him one last wave. “You won’t regret courting me! I promise you’ll like it!”

Taehyung couldn’t help but roll his eyes while laughing at Jungkook’s weirdness. 

He watched the alpha run off, and just a few seconds later, Hakyeon came walking back into the room, an eye raised. “What’s gotten him so worked up?” he mumbled, looking down the hallway.

Taehyung shrugged. “Maybe because he… has a boyfriend now?”

  
  


***

Seungcheol poured them both a cup of tea each, watching his husband sit quietly at the kitchen table, staring at the glass sliding door, where Junmyeon and Yifan had left earlier. 

It was already night, a few hours after they left, and just thinking that their son was out their, alone in the woods, left a horrible, gut-wrenching feeling in their stomach. 

But Seungcheol had the awful feeling that, despite Junmyeon having always been obedient of his parents in the past, would surely have found some way to leave on his own accord, which is the only reason why Seungcheol approved of him leaving. 

Though he couldn’t help but wonder if it was a mistake. 

The only thing that calmed him down was that if the people who discovered them came to them, since Junmyeon wasn’t here anymore, they wouldn’t be able to harm him. Seungcheol could protect Jeonghan, he had (barely) shown it in the past, but he has never tried protecting  _ two _ people before. 

Yeah, hopefully Junmyeon was safe out there with Yifan by his side. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Seungcheol set the cup of tea in front of Jeonghan. “What’s wrong?”

Jeonghan stared at the tea cup in front of him, refusing to grab it. “I just realized this is the first time in our life when Junmyeon and I won’t sleep under the same roof.”

Seungcheol sighed, sitting down next to Jeonghan at the table. “He’ll be fine, Jeonghan,” he said, reaching out to grab Jeonghan’s hand, caressing it. “For the past few years, I think you have taught him every form of combat you learned as prince.”

Jeonghan rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. “You’re just mad Junhui was a good teacher,” he said. 

“I- I was  _ not _ .”

“Yeah you were!”

“W-well, you’re just mad that, uh.... you’re just mad that Mingyu beat him in a fight once,” Seungcheol retorted back. 

“Mingyu jumped on his back, that was not a fair fight,” Jeonghan reminded him. 

Seungcheol grabbed his cup of tea. “How do you think they’re doing now?” he asked quietly. 

Jeonghan stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. How many times have he and Seungcheol had this conversation before? Wondering what their friends were up to, if anyone had gotten together, had kids… died…

“I hope they’re doing okay,” he mumbled, taking a sip of his own tea. Hibiscus tea, he realized while tasting it. His favorite. “Minghao might be a grandparent at this point if his child Luhan turns out like him.”

“Walking in on him and Junhui was not a good experience,” Seungcheol added, remembering how everyone ended up yelling, almost cringing at the memory. “Pretty sure that’s how he had Luhan.”

A few weeks after Seungcheol apologized for the gala incident, they had been taking a walk in the palace when Jeonghan said that he had been wanting to show him a drawing that he made earlier, one that he thought Seungcheol would like. He had left the drawing in Minghao’s chambers though, having shown it to him a few hours earlier, so he led Seungcheol to go get it, only for the pair to walk in on Junhui practically ramming Minghao into the mattress. 

“He didn’t have his heat, though,” Jeonghan reminded him. “They conceived a week after-"

“That’s oddly specific,” Seungcheol said. “I forget how much you two shared stuff between each other.”

Jeonghan shrugged. “I mean, he told me in panic the day after he found out he was expecting.”

“ _ That  _ pregnancy was a roller coaster from start to finish-"

Seungcheol stopped when they both heard frantic pounding on the main door. 

Jeonghan got out of his chair. “Is that Junmyeon? Do you think he got injured?”

“Don’t think the worst,” Seungcheol reminded him, rushing to open the door. 

What he did not see was Junmyeon, instead, some official covered in black smothering him with a cloth that no doubt had a chemical, as Seungcheol quickly fell into a deep slumber. 

  
  


***

_ They were stabbing into her body repeatedly with the knife, over and over, the blood pooling on the ground below her, and all Xiaojun could do was watch- _

“EOMMA!” he shrieked, falling off from the couch to the floor. 

He stayed there in shock, trying to calm down his breathing. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that he realized that he was still on the floor and that his arm, which took most of the fall, hurt.

Still trembling a bit, Xiaojun managed to sit up, clutching the blanket tightly around him when he saw a soft glow of light appear in the room. 

It was Kun, standing at the entrance of the hallway, a small lit candle in his hand. “Are you okay?” he asked, noticing Xiaojun was sitting on the floor. “Did you fall?”

Xiaojun nodded, pushing himself off the floor. “Yeah, it was just a nightmare, don’t worry.”

Kun set the candle down on the coffee table and helped Xiaojun get up. “I heard screaming,” he explained. “I thought you were getting hurt.”

“No, just… just a nightmare, I guess,” Xiaojun admitted, thinking of the woman repeatedly getting stabbed over and over. “I’m fine.”

Kun wanted to pry but considering how the latter was still pretty shaken up, he decided it was best to ask him tomorrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in the room?” he asked Xiaojun. “It’s more comfortable there.”

Xiaojun grabbed onto Kun’s arm, holding him in place. “Actually… can you stay with me tonight?” he pleaded. “Don’t leave me alone. Please.” 

Kun nodded, picking up the blanket that Xiaojun dropped on the floor. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you,” he reassured him. 


	15. Chapter 15

Taeyong was trying to think of what people Jaehyun always told him he could go to for help if he needed it as he tied the shoes of the twins, ignoring their constant questioning of where they were going. 

Jaehyun interacted with a lot of alphas, but most of them weren’t his age, more like parents who had teens barely younger than him. Taeyong always supposed that it was because of his status as an alpha of many children, plus he had been one of the well-known alphas back before he and Taeyong had gotten together. 

Truth was… Jaehyun always confided in him saying he felt that he didn’t have many friends. Most of the alphas he met with were close-minded, up to the point that they would make vulgar comments about Taeyong. Jaehyun has never explained what they would say, but Taeyong didn’t need to know, he heard them all the time. 

There were a few alphas, though, that Jaehyun always said he could go to for emergencies in case he could not be contacted. Taeyong had never felt the need to get help from anyone, though, not wanting to rely on others. Even when he went into labor with both Jian and the twins, he just tried to deal with the contractions on his own while waiting for Jaehyun to come back home. 

He couldn’t remember any of the names at the moment, but Taeyong thought of the nice omega who had watched his children during the engagement party, the official mother-in-law of chief Xuheng’s son. He had forgotten his name, but the twins had been calling him Hannie and he had been very kind. 

Oh, it was the omega who lived in the outskirts of the village with his mate! The couple who lived in the old house!

“Gunwoo, Gongchan, do you guys remember Hannie?” Taeyong asked, fixing their rumpled shirts. “We’re going to go see Hannie, okay?"

“Who’s Hannie?” Jian asked, confused. “What about appa?”

“Hannie, Hannie,” Gunwoo and Gongchan were saying in unison, jumping up and down. For two year olds, they seemed to have a good memory, in Taeyong’s opinion. 

“Appa will be fine,” Jungshin said, resting his hand on Jian. “I don’t know who Hannie is, though.”

“Your brothers met Hannie once, he’s a good omega who can help us,” Taeyong said, ruffling Jian’s hair. “Jungshin, hold Jian and Jongup’s hands, we’re leaving.”

Jungshin, being the oldest and thus most responsible one, grabbed Jian and Jongup, the latter having calmed down a while ago after the whole incident. 

Jongup let go of Jungshin’s hand as soon as he grabbed him. “You’re really hot and sweating,” he complained, making a disgusted face. “Bleh.”

Taeyong, suddenly catching the scent of an alpha nearby, hushed his children, straining to hear any voices that might be coming from outside. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear anything. 

“Why is there an alpha nearby?” he muttered to himself, standing up to go to the door. He was getting really worried, wondering if the two officials came back with others.

A small part in him wished for it to be Jaehyun, but he had a sad feeling that Jaehyun was in trouble somewhere. 

“Eomma, can I take off my shirt?” Jungshin interrupted him, waving his face. “It’s hot in here.”

“Cold, cold!” Gongchan started yelling, his twin soon repeating the same motions as him. 

Taeyong knelt down in front of Jungshin, checking his forehead for any signs of a fever. “Do you feel sick?” Taeyong asked, ignoring the sweat falling down his son’s head when the alpha scent hit him again and-

It was coming right in front of him. 

His eyes widened in realization, dropping his hand from Jungshin’s forehead, his children peppering him with questions. 

Jungshin was presenting. 

“Jungshin, I know this is going to be hard for you,” Taeyong said, “but for now, whatever thoughts you have, please just focus on taking care of your brothers right now, okay?”

“Yes, eomma,” Jungshin said, holding Jian’s and Jongup’s hands again. 

“Okay, so now we’re going to Hannie’s house, everyone,” Taeyong reminded the group, holding Gongchan and Gunwoo. “Everyone, be on your best behavior if you want to see appa again.”

All his children nodded in understanding, so Taeyong opened the front door and led them out the house, the group of six quiet while they made their way towards the end of the village. 

It was already night, a few hours after Jaehyun was technically supposed to have returned from doing labor. There were barely any people outside, so no one questioned why Taeyong and his five kids were outside. 

It took a while to reach the end of the village, with Jungshin complaining about how sweaty he felt every now and then. Gongchan had fallen asleep, so Taeyong had to carry him in one arm while Gunwoo complained why Gongchan got to be carried, and Jian was also talking about being hungry. 

When they reached the old house, Taeyong felt knots in his stomach when he noticed the door swinging up, no one in sight. 

What was going on in the village?

***

Kihyun was sitting on his porch at night, waiting for Shownu to show up. The latter was supposed to have come earlier, but Shownu had yet to come. 

He sighed, playing with the stray hems of his shirt. He had cleaned up his house really nice today, putting in a bit more effort, but now Shownu won’t even be able to come inside. It was considered inappropriate to be past the maturing age and have someone stay in close quarters with someone from the opposite status after hours. 

The rules in the village were stupid, in Kihyun’s opinion, but he had to follow them, after all, especially since he’s an omega and would get the harsher punishment. 

Rumors were circulating about an unwed omega who was expecting, though Kihyun didn’t know who. He really hoped it wasn’t true, since it would mean the omega would get a harsh punishment and would be declared as a dirty omega between the elders. 

Kihyun thought it was rude to call those omegas dirty. Heats made you think questionable things, it was supposed to be normal, right?  _ Right _ ? 

More than once, he’s gotten an inappropriate thought of Shownu during his heat, explaining why he always had to have constant baths in the river. He would produce so much slick that, even though he didn’t touch himself, it got really uncomfortable. 

He’s heard about other places outside their village, long before they fell in ruin, that had omegas who needed to have sex or touch themself constantly during their heat to make it pass. It sounded like torture to Kihyun, where he had gotten his first heat at fifteen. 

He had continued playing with the hem of his shirt when he saw Shownu run up to him, though it was hard to see since it was dark outside. “KIHYUN!!”

Kihyun looked up, surprise. “Oh, Shownu!”

Shownu caught up to him, panting the entire time as he tried to catch his breath. “I’m so sorry it’s late,” he explained, still struggling to breath. “But something came up, it was urgent.”

“Oh, it’s fine, I’m just glad everything’s okay,” Kihyun said, standing up. He scratched his arm nervously, disappointed that they won’t be able to spend any time together today. “I was worried.”

“Oh, nothing’s okay, let me tell you that,” Shownu said. “You know Yifan?”

Kihyun titled his head in confusion. “Yeah, Yifan, the son of the chief, Xuheng. What about it?”

“He’s gone,” Shownu explained. “He gave me a letter to give to his father, explaining that he wanted to explore with Junmyeon for a few days outside the village.”

Kihyun’s eyes widened. “Wait,  _ what _ ?”

“I know, stuff isn’t going good in the village right now,” Shownu added. “You’re okay, right? They haven’t threatened you or said anything to you?”

“No, nothing,” Kihyun answered truthfully. “I’m doing fine.”

Shownu leaned forward and gave him a hug, holding him tight. “I get worried about you a lot,” he said softly, rocking their bodies together. “I know omegas get judged for a lot of stuff but know I’ll never think of you as inferior to me.”

Kihyun wrapped his arms around Shownu as well, setting his head on the alpha’s shoulder. “You don’t know how much that sentence means to me.”

  
  


***

They walked a lot yesterday, in Junmyeon’s opinion, but what he knew from his eomma is that him and his appa lasted almost three days while walking, so he knew he had a lot to go. 

Granted, it took a lot longer because both of them were injured and Jeonghan was pregnant with him so they need more frequent stops and didn’t really pack much supplies, only stuff they have grabbed at the last minute. Junmyeon was thankful to be in good shape but he was still getting pretty tired. 

Yifan had not complained once during the entire trip, only suggesting pauses here and there when he noticed Junmyeon might faint. He came here for one reason and for one reason only: make sure Junmyeon was okay. 

He couldn’t help but steal glances at the omega every now and then, especially when they took their rest for the night and Junmyeon fell asleep first. To be fair, he didn’t even know Junmyeon had fallen asleep; they had been talking quietly and Yifan had gotten worried that Junmyeon had stopped responding. After getting up and taking one look at the omega up close, his worries dissipated. 

He fought the urge to press a kiss on Junmyeon’s forehead then and there. 

Right now they were continuing their trail, and Yifan couldn’t help help but ask “why did your parents come to the village?”

Junmyeon stopped walking, looking back at Yifan. “My eomma had… a high ranking, you can say,” he started, mentally debating how much of the truth he could tell the alpha. “And my appa… was not the same level as him, so they were in a lot of trouble for being together.”

Yifan frowned. “Really? Why?”

Junmyeon shrugged, continuing to walk on the trail. “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “When he tells me his stories, I wonder a lot about why people always want to impose society norms, but unfortunately, you’re frowned upon if you don’t obey, you know?”

“That- that sounds rather difficult,” Yifan trailed off. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad they're safe and happy now,” Junmyeon said, yawning. “Knowing they’re safe keeps me going.”

  
  


***

  
  


Jeonghan woke up with some anxiously shaking his body over and over again. 

“Minghao, stopped shaking me,” he muttered, turning around in his sleep. “I’m tired-”

“Jeonghan, it’s me,” Seungcheol said, shaking his shoulders. “Wake up, you're dreaming.”

“Wanting to be with Seungcheol is not a dream,” Jeonghan muttered, reaching out to try to find a blanket only to grab Seungcheol’s arm. “Mhm- ah!” he sat up quickly, immediately groaning at the sudden rush of blood to his head. “Uh, Seungcheol?”

“It’s me, your husband ten years in the future.” Seungcheol helped Jeonghan sit against the wall, massaging his love’s head to make sure he wasn’t injured. “We’ve been kidnapped, I’m assuming.”

Jeonghan blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light in the room- wait, why was there light if they were kidnapped? “My head hurts,” he mumbled. 

“I know, hey, it’s fine, we’ll get out of here, I’m sure,” Seungcheol reassured him, continuing to massage his head. “I’m glad Junmyeon wasn’t with us when they came-”

Jeonghan’s eyes widened at the mention of Junmyeon. He was  _ definitely  _ fully awake now. “Junmyeon? Is he okay? Did-”

“I don’t think they have him,” Seungcheol said, standing up from the floor to look around. “Though I have no idea where we are.”

He looked around the room. It was indeed a very large room, like a library of sorts, like those rooms nobles back in the Kaeleous Kingdom would have in their mansions. Definitely not a room you would find in any of the official’s houses back in the village. 

There were large windows on one side of the wall, and from the looks of it, it looked like they were at least three stories high. It also appeared that it was around noon, so at best, Seungcheol and Jeonghan have been here for more than half a day. 

Also mildly concerning was an unconscious short person, an omega, Seungcheol realized, a few feet away from them, body laying flat on the floor. 

Jeonghan seemed to have noticed the stranger, too, pointing at them. “Uh, is- is he  _ dead _ ?”

Seungcheol inched closer to the omega, looking around for something to poke it. “He looks like his the same age as us,” he said, reaching out his foot to shake the omega. “Why do they have him hear with us-”

“Don’t touch him with your foot!” Jeonghan said, getting up from the floor. “They probably kidnapped this omega as well, don’t you think?”

“I don’t even know who this is, why would we be stuck in a room with them?” Seungcheol asked, watching Jeonghan inch closer to the unconscious body. “Jeonghan, dear, don’t-”

Jeonghan rolled the body over, causing the omega to stir in his sleep, only for Jeonghan to fall backwards when he saw who it was. 

“Hey, Jeonghan, you okay?” Seungcheol asked, pulling Jeonghan away from the omega when he stopped, getting a good view of the sleepy person. 

“....  _ Jihoon? _ ”   
  


***

  
  


Ten was eating breakfast quietly at his parents table, eating his rice in peace when his father spoke up about the alpha they were planning to give him away to.

Thing is, they had no idea that Ten knew about what they have been planning, much less that he  _ technically  _ already had a mate Johnny when they went to the town hall yesterday and made it official. 

It was going to come out eventually; he knew that the officials were going to bring it up in the meeting today, since you’re supposed to announce when you’re courting or engaged. If people were to court in secret, it was often frowned upon.

Ten thought it was ridiculous that you had to tell them everything, but what could you do? He was just your young, single omega- 

Well, not single anymore.

“So, Chittaphon,” his father said, speaking in Thai like usual. They only used Korean when talking to people outside of the family. “You’re at a good age to start courting, don’t you think?”

Ten, who had just opened his mouth to chew on some more rice, closed it, shrugging. “Probably,” he said calmly.

“But honey, you don’t have to worry about that,” his mother said, reaching out to grab his hand. “We found a solution to that-“

“No need, I already have someone,” Ten said, taking another bite of his rice before continuing. “We’re going to announce it today.“

“You already met Yaesing?” His mother asked, excited. “The son of Official Hangyeol?”

Ten gulped. It was now or never. “Can we drop this conversation, please?” he said, choosing not to lie. He’d rather have one last night of peacefulness, to be honest. “I don’t want to talk about courting and being engaged.”

“Oh, leave him alone, he’ll have plenty of time, anyways,” his father said, shoving more asparagus in his mouth. “Everything’s set out, anyways.”   
  


  
***

Chanyeol had invited Baekhyun to go swimming again in the morning, so the two made their way to a secluded spot on the river bank, just the two of them alone. 

Baekhyun stepped into the water slowly, trying to get used to the cold temperature. Since it was early in the morning, the sun hadn’t warmed up the water yet, so it was still pretty cold to the touch. 

Of course, Chanyeol didn’t take much time to fully wade in, as always, even though the water was colder to his liking. He had already taken his t-shirt off, pushing himself deeper into the river. “What a good way to spend a morning,” he said, sighing in relaxation. 

Baekhyun was only knee-deep with the water, taking his time, running his fingers on the water surface. “It does feel nice,” he said, walking in deeper. “I’m just sad we have to cut it short because of the town hall meeting.”

Chanyeol made a confused face, unsure of how to tell Baekhyun. “Uh… I wouldn’t recommend you going to the town hall meeting today.”

Baekhyun frowned. “Why not?” 

“It’s just… I think the officials and elders are really pissed off right now,” he explained. “There’s just some stuff that has happened and it’s a big mess, and in their anger they're going to be attacking omegas.”

Baekhyun stepped backwards to get out of the water. “What’s going on?”

“Yifan’s missing, there’s a rumored alpha to be tried for treason, and a pregnant omega they want to punish,” Chanyeol said all in one breath. “It’s a lot right now, I really don’t recommend you to go.”

He heard everything Chanyeol said, worried about the first two, but once he said pregnant omega, Baekhyun couldn’t help but think of-

_ Jinyoung _ .

“Oh, no, Jinyoung,” Baekhyun said, getting out of the water. “We have to help him.”

"Wait, Jinyoung? The guy courting Jaebum?” Chanyeol asked, puzzled. “What does Jinyoung have to do with anything-”

“BAEKHYUN!!!”

Baekhyun turned around and saw Chen Le and Mark Tuan running towards him, a tired and worn-out Jimin behind them. 

“Baekhyun, we got a problem!” Chen Le said, shaking Baekhyun’s shoulders aggressively. “Mark is trying to leave!!”

“I said it was  _ only  _ temporary!!” Mark corrected him  _ again  _ after who knows how long since yesterday when he first broke down the news. “It’s for a little bit, he’s exaggerating-”

Jimin caught up to them, breathing heavily. “It was-” he started sighing, taking more deep, staggering breaths. “Mark, tell them what happened-”

“Can you guys calm down?!” Baekhyun yelled at them. “I have no idea what you three are saying.”

Mark, Chen Le and Jimin all stared at one another, wondering who was going to speak up first. 

None of them did anyways, though, as it was Chanyeol who spoke up. “You guys are here,” he said, confused about what they have been rambling about but nonetheless happy to see Baekhyun’s friends as always. “I was telling Baekhyun that he shouldn’t go to the town hall meeting and neither should you guys-”

“Pfft, I’m not going to make it to the town hall meeting,” Mark said, crossing his arms. “It’s the perfect time to leave since everyone will be in there-”

“Excuse me,  _ WHAT?! _ ” Chen Le and Jimin both screamed in unison. 

Baekhyun raised an eye, taken aback. “Uh, what do you mean you’re leaving?” he asked, confused. 

“So a few of use are going to be accompanying Jinyoung and Jaebum says the officials and elders are going to beat their asses for Jinyoung getting pregnant,” Mark summarized, ignoring Chen Le and Jimin’s glares. “They want to leave so-”

“Wait, JINYOUNG is the pregnant omega?!” Chanyeol interrupted. 

Mark squinted his eyes at him. “You better behave if you want my respects for you courting Baekhyun in the future,” he growled at him.

“Uh, Mark, literally what the fuck?!” Baekhyun said, surprising everyone. 

He was the one to follow most omega rules, which included doing well in chores, not raising his voice, and certainly most of all, no foul language. 

Chanyeol’s face was turning red at Mark’s threat, but thankfully, he didn’t have to say anything since Baekhyun’s friends spoke up next. 

“Now’s not the time, we need your help, Chanyeol,” Jimin pleaded to the alpha. “You’re close with Yifan and the officials, you must have some information and be able to do some begging for us-”

“I- I don’t know if I can do anything,” Chanyeol admitted. “Like I was telling Baekhyun here, Yifan’s gone.”   
  


  
***

After Vernon’s eomma, Jihoon, went missing, the alpha had been sad for days, though he didn’t dare show it to Seungkwan. 

As friends, it was common for them to share their feelings and emotions to one another (minus them having a teensy-weensy itty bitty…  _ crush  _ on one another), despite the stereotype in their community that alphas should never show a slice of emotion  _ ever _ .

However, since Jihoon’s disappearance, Vernon has remained quiet about the whole ordeal, often in a faze when he and Seungkwan hung out together. 

Seungkwan felt really awful for his best friend. With his own parents, he could never relate; there was a reason he never spent time with them, anyways. But Vernon’s parents were literally the best people in the entire world, and they always made Seungkwan feel welcomed in their house. 

RIght now, there were outside near the woods again, not really doing anything in particular. Seungkwan wasn’t in the mood to play games, still worried about Mr. Lee, and it wasn’t like Vernon was going to be participating as well. 

“Do you want to go pick fruit?” Seungkwan suggested, picking one of the baskets that they always left laying around the yard. “Maybe some apples, they’re easy.”

Vernon shrugged, hands stuffed in pockets. “Yeah, I guess we can do that.”

Seungkwan nodded, grabbing Vernon’s forearm, pulling him forward. “Yeah, don’t worry, we’ll find some good ones,” he said, trying to cheer him up. “Make some apple juice, I’ll help you.”

The two walked deep into the forest, a few half-mile from Vernon’s house. They often went deep in the woods to do their exploring, so going this deep in wasn’t unusual. Since Vernon lived right at the border of the Kaeleous Kingdom, they’re wouldn’t be anyone bothering them there. 

Usually, that is. 

While looking around for some apple trees, Vernon pulled back Seungkwan abruptly, placing a finger to his lips. “Shh, calm down, I see someone,” he whispered to him. 

The two stood in silence for a few seconds, not wanting to move, when Seungkwan saw them; a tall alpha and a shorter omega, with the omega running towards them. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad we found people!” the omega shouted, waving some papers in his hands. “Can you guys help us find Minghao?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everything happens for a reason in this fic :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR BEING GONE FOR SO LONG A LOT OF STUFF IS HAPPENING IN MY LIFE REMEMBER TO STAY SAFE

_ Jeonghan stared at the mirror while brushing his hair, humming quietly to himself.  _

_ The gala was tomorrow, and even though he was dreading it a bit because of his father forcing him to socialize with a lot of nobles, he was looking forward to making some mooncakes early in the morning with the cooks and Minghao. Plus, he already had a good outfit matched just for the occasion that he planned on wearing for the occasion, which he was really looking forward to.  _

_ One of the only things that Jeonghan had left from his mother was a long, pretty white dress. Jeonghan always loved it; since his mother passed away when he was very young, he didn’t have much memories of her, one of the rare moments he remembers was her sneaking them out of a banquet to stay in his room all night, the two eating fruit tarts and eating with his toys, all while she was wearing it.  _

_ Even though the dress was for women (male omegas didn’t wear feminine clothes often), Jeonghan really wanted to wear it once, just once, and think of her. And he thought the gala was a perfect moment for that.  _

_ He continued to watch himself in the mirror as he brushed his hair, wondering if he’ll wear his long hair down or in a ponytail, when the door suddenly busted open.  _

_ He whipped his head around to see Minghao standing there, eyes wide open. “You will not  _ believe  _ what just happened to me,” Minghao said.  _

_ “You  _ almost  _ gave me a heart attack,” Jeonghan said. “But continue.” _

_ “No, like you literally will not believe it,” Minghao said slowly. He paused, and Jeonghan could see how his chest was rising really quickly, as if he were heavy breathing. “Like you won’t believe it. At all. Not in a million years. Why? Because this has only happened in my dreams, matter of fact,  _ all  _ of the dreams I’ve been having this past year-" _

_ “Holy shit, did Jun kiss you?” Jeonghan asked, standing up from his chair.  _

_ “Did Jun kiss me- OF COURSE HE KISSED ME!!” Minghao screamed, dashing in the room. “HE KISSED ME!!” _

_ “OH MY GOSH, HE KISSED YOU?!” Jeonghan screamed back as Minghao jumped into his arms, the two friends becoming a screaming mess soon after.  _

  
  


***

  
  


Seungcheol and Jeonghan were sitting against the wall in the room, as far away as possible from the omega who looked like Seungcheol’s friend Jihoon who he hasn’t seen in more than sixteen years. 

It was possible that the omega  _ wasn’t  _ Jihoon, considering how he looked like he literally hasn’t aged at all. However, now this was driving them into a panic attack, because this could only mean one thing. 

They  _ know  _ their identities, that’s for sure. And the fact that the kidnappers could find their friends from the past even though they haven’t made any contact for almost two decades did not sit well in their stomachs. 

All Jeonghan could think of right now is that he was glad that Junmyeon hadn’t been with them at all. He didn’t want his son’s presence to be known to people of the past, especially those that no doubt wanted to hurt them. 

They didn’t make any sound for a while, not wanting to startle the omega, until they watched him slowly become awake, first noticeable by how he groaned, slowly moving his head from side to side until he sat up. 

Jihoon got up, rubbing his temples with the palms of his hands, as he muttered something under his breath, something about some Vernon kid and someone’s name they both did not catch. “Jeez, where am I-”

When he looked around and caught sight of Seungcheol and Jeonghan looking at him, he froze, his eyes widening.

“Yeah, that’s definitely Jihoon,” Seungcheol said, knowing the omega recognized them. “Hey, Jihoon, we’ve been kidnapped together-”

“You are  _ not  _ making these jokes right now,” Jeonghan scolded him. “Please tell me you’re not.”

“Well, then  _ you  _ break the tension,” Seungcheol said, pouting. 

Jeonghan turned his attention back to Jihoon, who was still staring at them wide-eyed. “Are you okay?” he asked him. “They didn’t hurt you, right? I’m assuming they brought you here against your will, too-”

“You’re alive,” Jihoon interrupted him. 

“Um- yeah?” Jeonghan said. “At least, for now.”

“No, you don’t get it, for the past decade, I thought you were dead- no,  _ we  _ thought you were dead,” Jihoon corrected himself. “Soonyoung missed you, Seungcheol.”

“Holy shit, Soonyoung?” Seungcheol said. “You’re in contact with him?” 

“You’re in contact with him- he’s my husband, you fucking idiot,” Jihoon yelled at him. “The fuck, only you would forget that- oh, wait, that was after you left,” he trailed off. 

Seungcheol’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hold on, you  _ married  _ Soonyoung?”

“It was like- uh, a year or two after you disappeared,” Jihoon said. “Yeah, I guess- yeah, I married Soonyoung.”

“You  _ married  _ Soonyoung, what?!” Jeonghan yelled as well. 

“Can we get past the fact that I married Soonyoung?!” Jihoon screamed. “What are you two doing here?! I thought you were dead?! And- and what happened to…”

“Oh yeah, Junmyeon was born safe!” Jeonghan exclaimed happily, remembering how everyone had been worried that his baby wouldn’t make it. “He’s a boy, an omega, and he wasn’t with us when we were kidnapped, thankfully.”

“Oh, thank god,” Jihoon said, sighing in relief. “Man, Minghao would be ecstatic to hear that, he’s always blabbering how your baby would have gotten along with Luhan and Zitao.”

Jeonghan frowned. “Who’s Zitao?” he said. He knew Luhan was Minghao’s baby, and from how Jihoon described it, thankfully Luhan was doing well. 

“Oh shit, you don’t know, Minghao and Junhui had another baby like a year later!” Jihoon explained. “They’re both kind of quiet, both turned out like Junhui and not at  _ all  _ like Minghao, but they both know martial arts, man, Zitao is  _ intense  _ at it-”

“MINGHAO HAD ANOTHER BABY?!” Jeonghan screamed, standing up. “SAY SIKE RIGHT NOW!” 

“He did, I’m not joking!” Jihoon said. “Honestly, I’m not surprised, Junhui’s kind of stupid.”

“He is  _ not  _ stupid, I will not tolerate Junhui hate in this household- Seungcheol?” Jeonghan watched Seungcheol who grabbed a nearby chair. “What are you doing?” 

“Keep gossiping, I don’t mind,” he said. “But grab those blankets and tie them together, will you?”

“You should probably wait until we tie them before you break the windows,” Jihoon said, already knowing what Seungcheol was about to do. The alpha  _ had  _ been trained as a bodyguard, he knew ways of how to get out. “Same alpha as you’ve always been.”

Jeonghan grabbed the stack of blankets at the side of the room and started tying them. “He’s been missing your avocado wraps for years now,” he explained. “Honestly. Not to mention how much apple juice he always steals from me.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jihoon said. “Why does everyone like my wraps so much, it’s just plain ingredients, even Vernon and Seungkwan can eat a whole plate of them in one sitting, I’m not even going to talk about Soonyoung’s obsession with avocados-”

“Wait, I’m lost, who’s Vernon?” Jeonghan interrupted him. 

“Oh, my son,” Jihoon explained. “He’s almost fifteen, Seungkwan’s his best friend since forever-”

“You had a  _ son  _ with Soonyoung?!” Seungcheol exclaimed. 

“Can we stop invalidating my marriage with Soonyoung already?!” Jihoon yelled. “This is why you weren’t invited to the wedding! That and because I thought you were dead.”

Jihoon stood up from the ground and reached out his hand to Seungcheol. “Let me see that real quick,” he said, taking the chair from Seungcheol. 

“Wait, what are you going to do, I’m confused-” Seungcheol asked, only to be interrupted by Jihoon breaking the glass windows with the chair. “Really Jihoon?!”

“Alphas are strong my ass,” Jihoon mumbled under his breath. “Okay, let’s escape now before these idiots try to kill us.”

  
  


***

While the town meeting was going on, Mark (Tuan, not Lee), was packing his bag in his house, stuffing as many rice bags as he could, along with some clothes, jugs of water and dehydrated fruit, hoping it’ll last the trail. 

The joys of not being a desirable omega in their village meant that he could miss the town hall meeting and no one would wonder where he was, so when he got out of his hut, bag slewn over his shoulder, no one was questioning his whereabouts. 

Mark stepped out, rushing quickly to get into the forest, hoping no one would see him. Packing a bag and leaving through the forest  _ would  _ be a bit suspicious, so it was important that he left without anyone noticing. 

If he recalled Jackson correctly, they were going to meet behind the old house at the end of the village, the one where the betrothed of the chief’s son lived. No one ever went there, and it was separated from the rest of the village, so it would be a good place for them to meet. 

He tried not to make noise in the forest, watching his step carefully. His bag wasn’t heavy, thankfully, despite all the rice he shoved in there. His friends always praised him for being strong, and Mark rarely ever took pride in that, but it always came in handy. 

From a distance, he could see Jackson with his two friends, Yugyeom and Bambam, the latter being from one of the Thai families. There were definitely going to be questions if Bambam was gone, but it looks like the latter didn’t care, worried more about his friends. 

Mark will admit he might have been wrong of what he thought of this friend group. 

He accidentally stepped on a pile of leaves, making the crunchy sounds, and he could see how the three of them looked around, trying to find out where the sound came from, only to sigh in relief when they saw him. 

They continued chattering as Mark walked up to them, trying not to make any commotion. He didn’t know the group well, only Jinyoung and… well, Jackson, so it was a bit weird being in the same presence as the other two. 

“Mark, you made it!” Jackson exclaimed, grinning. God, what a stupid smile, if it weren’t for the situation they were in, Mark would think he was faking it to get a reaction from him. “We’re just waiting on Youngjae, he’s getting Jaebum and Jinyoung.”

“Youngjae’s going to steal some last-minute chocolate and you know that,” Yugyeom reminded him. 

“I don’t see the problem,” Bambam said, shrugging. “That is, assuming he brought some for me, of course.”

“Jaebum’s probably packing some last stuff,” Jackson said, shrugging. “You know how worried he’s gotten recently.” 

“Duh, they’re going to punish Jinyoung, of course he’s going to get worried,” Yugyeom said. “You know Jaebum, he’d die for him.”

Mark clutched his hands tighter around the straps of his bag, looking at the floor uncomfortably. “Jaebum sounds like he really likes him,” he muttered to himself. 

“Pfft, you know how many years he’s been obsessed with him?” Bambam said. “Jaebum has the fuckboy aura, but trust me, he was an entire mess when they started courting, for him, it was a victory if he said hi to him.”

“Still surprised how they had sex,” Jackson said, laughing. “You know they must have kissed for at  _ least  _ two hours before Jaebum dared to take off Jinyoung’s shirt.”

“Hold on, Jaebum knows how to take off omega’s clothes?” Yugyeom said, laughing as well. “Damn it, too bad Jinyoung’s pregnant, I want to joke about Jaebum being inexperienced.”

“The fact that he’s more experienced than all of us,” Bambam said, trailing off when he pointed at something in the distance. “Guys, look, it’s Youngjae- wait, where are Jinyoung and Jaebum?”   
  


***

Jaehyun always went to town hall meetings for him, letting Taeyong stay at home with the kids. The omega didn’t like being around the people of the village, as they often said stuff about him, and plus, they only had respect for Jaehyun anyways. 

However, village rules state that there must be  _ one  _ person of each household for every meeting. Since Jaehyun wasn’t there with them, logically, this meant that Taeyong had to go. 

Which he wasn’t going to. 

He spent a good hour tearing the house down, trying to find any information on who he could trust. He  _ knew  _ Jaehyun had a list somewhere, and if he was going to find him, he had to leave his children with someone trustworthy. 

Taeyong managed to find out some scribbled out notes from Jaehyun and recognized one of the names, an unmarried Chinese who lived near the center of the village. A bit risky, Taeyong admitted, but he had no other choice. 

He left the house like they usually did, with Taeyong holding onto Gongchan’s and Gunwoo’s hand while Jungshin walked with Jongup and Jian. 

Taeyong doesn’t know the rules of children presenting, only that sometimes they could get a bit sick, but Jungshin looked to be okay for now. He was sweating a lot and complaining about being hot, but he didn’t feel dizzy or had a headache, which was good. 

Jongup kept complaining about his older brother and how he was really disgusting and should take a shower, while Gongchan talked about how much he loved bubbles. Usually Taeyong would listen to their conversations and converse with them, but talking to them was the last thing on his mind, as he was more worried about them remaining safe. 

“Weird brothers,” Jian said, shaking his head. “Jungshin and Jongup weird.”

“I’m not weird, I’m amazing, appa says I’m amazing,” Jongup said. “Jungshin here nasty.”

“I’m not nasty, I feel really sticky!” Jungshin exclaimed. “Eomma says I’ll be alpha like appa.”

“Appa? Appa?!” Gunwoo exclaimed, looking around for his appa. 

“We will find appa, eomma said we will!” Jongup said, turning around to see his younger brother. “We will find appa!”

“Lasagna, I want lasagna,” Jian said, yawning. “Tired.”

“We will eat soon,” Jungshin said, reassuring him. “I’m really hungry, too.”

Taeyong found the location of the alpha’s hut, hesitating last minute. Jaehyun said he was trustworthy, but… 

No, he shouldn’t doubt Jaehyun’s judgement. His mate knew of all of the rude and fake people in this village, he knew what he was doing. 

But clearly, Jaehyun did something and hid it from Taeyong, not trusting him. Unless they’re lying and he’s being framed? But why would they do that?

“Kids, get behind me,” Taeyong said, ushering his children to stand behind him as he knocked on the man’s door, hoping he would get a response. The town hall meeting was starting soon, and Taeyong doesn’t know if he already left or not-

An alpha opened the door, staring at Taeyong in confusion. “Hello?” he asked him. “How can I help you?"

Taeyong gulped. “Are you Qian Kun?” he asked him, taking out Jaehyun’s notes from his pockets and unfolding it. “Do you know Jung Jaehyun?”

The alpha Kun nodded. “Yeah, I know Jaehyun,” he said. “What about him?”

“They took him,” Taeyong blurted out. “They mentioned something about treason.”

“Treason- hold on, Jung Jaehyun?” Kun said, opening the door wider. “What do you mean, treason?”

“I don’t know, they sent people to my house to look for something and I accidentally stabbed one of them, but they won’t tell me anything, and I don’t know why the officials sent them after me,” Taeyong started rambling. “Please, can you look after my children, you’re one of the only people he trusts in this village, and I need to find him, please-”

“Hey, calm down, look, uh-” Kun glanced inside his house. “Come in, okay, I’ll help you find your husband,” he said. “I really doubt Jaehyun did something, I’ll help you find him.”    
  


  
***

The omega stranger said the name Minghao, which left Vernon confused. Did they know that his parents were friends with Minghao and Junhui?

From what Vernon remembered, his parents had been friends with a bodyguard Seungcheol, who was the lover of the missing prince Jeonghan, who had been friends with Minghao, which is how they knew each other. Sometimes his parents hung out with Minghao, but Vernon didn’t interact with his two children that much; they were really quiet, unlike Minghao. 

He didn’t want to jeopardize anyone, so he had to think carefully. “Why are you looking for Minghao?” he asked them. “The prince of the China Kingdom?”

"He was friends with eo- I mean, he’s married to Junhui, isn’t he?” the stranger omega asked. He showed Vernon one of the papers he had been holding, which he noticed was a drawing of- hold on, a drawing of  _ Minghao _ ? “He looks like this."

“That looks like Minghao,” Seungkwan said. “Right, Vernon? That really looks like him- at least I think…”

Vernon had noticed that the tall alpha hadn’t said anything at all, but he decided not to deal with that. “Who are you guys?” he asked them. “And why are you looking for him?”

“Oh, we’re uh… um-”

“He’s Junmyeon, I’m Yifan,” the tall alpha said for the first time. “And we need his help.”

“For?” Vernon asked, prying further. Last time he fucking remembered, his eomma went missing, so he was not about to give random information to strangers. 

He noticed how the omega Junmyeon gave Yifan a confused look, the two whispering to each other, while Seungkwan poked Vernon’s side. “Minghao is friends with your parents, right?” Seungkwan asked. “One of the China princes?”

“Yeah, but why would they be looking for him?” Vernon asked him. “They won’t even tell us, this all looks really suspicious.” 

“Maybe they don’t want to expose anything,” Seungkwan said. “I thought he was going to say friends with someone earlier but went back on it.

“Like I said, really suspicious,” Vernon reiterated. “I have a bad feeling about these people.”

Seungkwan looked at the alpha and omega, who were waiting for an answer. “Maybe we should ask your appa for help,” Seungkwan suggested. “He would know if they are bad people or not.”

Vernon eyed the strangers. “Can you get him?” he asked his best friend. “I don’t want to leave you alone with them.”

Seungkwan wanted to say something about Vernon’s worrying but knew the latter wasn’t going through a good time right now, so he sighed and walked back towards the house. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’m going to get your appa.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> iknow its been a while but ive finally been feeling better by myself and the situation at home is more controlled. keep staying safe guys

Taehyung was not allowed to go to this town hall meeting today; instead, he was ordered to stay home and do chores instead. 

Not that he wanted to go, anyways. He always hated going to the meetings; as an unmarried omega, your opinion literally meant  _ nothing _ to these people. Plus, add in the fact that his mother would tell him every five seconds to change his facial expression or posture or how to place your hands and Taehyung would just  _ know  _ that she’s going to scold him big when they go back home. 

No, he felt much more comfortably washing the rice and making new kimchi batches back home. And cleaning the house. And going out to pick some rice and vegetables. And-

Well, you get the point. 

Honestly, Taehyung did chores all the time, so he was used to it by now. He just found it better when his mother wasn’t watching over his shoulder, screaming at how he was doing everything wrong and how he was never going to end up with an alpha mate. Course, she still screams at him whenever she comes back, but at least it’s not ongoing. 

Taehyung still couldn’t believe that he was now “courting” Jungkook, even though they promised to keep it a secret. He still had  _ no  _ idea what the latter saw in him, but he frantically didn’t have the energy or mentality to remind Jungkook of all of his flaws and why the alpha wouldn’t like him, so he said… yes.

When he told Hakyeon, the latter start bombarding him with questions, but Taehyung didn’t have time to answer all of them because a, he didn’t have the answer to most of them and b, Hakyeon’s mother came back pretty soon to drag (yes, drag - she even pulled his ear once) Hakyeon to the meeting with her and his father, so Taehyung was left here alone. 

He shrugged as he continued to scrub the kitchen floor with the rags. He didn’t have time to think today, he  _ really  _ needed to finish these chores today if he didn’t want that bad of a punishment. 

_ Maybe Jungkook wouldn’t make me scrub the floors, _ he thought to himself, knowing his voice was unheard anyways. 

***

Si Cheng sat with his mother at the town hall meeting towards the back, where many of the Chinese immigrants in the village sat at. Usually, you just needed one person from your household present, but as they were both omegas, they didn’t feel comfortable leaving the other one alone, so they often went together. 

His mother grabbed his hand and tightened her grip on it, giving him a light squeeze. “I hope they don’t do anything to you,” she said in her native Mandarin.

“Ma, they’re not going to do anything to me,” Si Cheng said, persuading her. Sure, he knew of the omega shortages, but they thought that the immigrants were too dirty, anyways. “If they pick omegas, they’ll probably pick the handsome Korean ones first.”

“They shouldn’t be picking anyone,” she reminded him. “They should not be forcing omegas, they have the same human rights as alphas.”

“Ma- well…” Si Cheng sighed. “I don’t know, it’s not like we get a say, you know.”

She didn’t say anything after that, squeezing his hand tighter, so he just looked around, wondering when the meeting was going to start. 

He thought of what Yuta and Takuya were doing back home. Si Cheng didn’t know much about Takuya, as he struggled with his Korean and was often out of the house, despite the two saying they needed to stay hidden. Si Cheng figured he had become friends with someone and just saw him constantly, but it’s not like he knew from talking to him. 

Yuta, though… Yuta spent all his time indoors. Sometimes he wrote on pieces of spare paper a language that looked similar to Chinese but not quite - Japanese, if Si Cheng remembered correctly. He played with this toy sometimes that he made out of sticks, or he would talk to Takuya. Other than that… nothing. 

Si Cheng didn’t know about their past that much, but he couldn’t help but worry for their safety as they stayed here in the meeting, him and his mother, alone as usual at the very back of the seats, praying once again that there would be no attention paid to them. 

The place started getting more filled with every couple minutes, but Si Cheng noticed a strange tension in the air. There was chatter, yes, but more hushed, as if they were being afraid of being heard. Some people were missing; the young father alpha who always defended omegas, the omega who had a foul mouth according to the elders, even the usual mysterious man at the back that was often thought to be the Scoups man. 

The chief’s son was also missing, Si Cheng noticed, and he was one of the first ones to always be there. Why so many people were gone, he had no clue, but he had a feeling this was about to be a bad meeting. 

  
  


***

“Jeonghan, go first,” Seungcheol said, holding out to grab his hand. “Please.”

Jeonghan hesitated, extending out his hand slowly. “It’s just not fair,” he whispered. “All those years of hiding going down the drain.”

“Hey,” Jihoon spoke up. It was a bit awkward for him to talk to the two, considering how it’s been almost two decades since he’s last seen them. “It bought you a few years with your son, didn’t it? I don’t think that’s a waste.”

“Oh, he’s going to fucking live, I’ll make sure of it,” Jeonghan said, letting go of Seungcheol’s hand to get up on the windowsill. “I swear if they touch him-”

“What a coincidence that we get kidnapped the same day we let him go off with Yifan to find Minghao,” Seungcheol whispered under his breath. 

Jihoon blinked rapidly a few times, trying to comprehend what Seungcheol just said. “Excuse me, what-”

Jeonghan, holding onto the makeshift rope, loosened his grip a bit, allowing it to let him slide down a few feet down, careful not to lose his grip completely. His skills were a bit rusty, his training having stopped when he left the palace all those years ago, but at least he wasn’t a  _ complete  _ newbie. 

Seungcheol, realizing that Jeonghan was already climbing down, leaned out the window, eyes widened in fear, as he saw him go. “Jeonghan,  _ please  _ be careful-”

“No, idiot, he’s going to hurt himself on purpose,” Jihoon said, rolling his eyes. “Wait until he gets to the ground so that you can go, we don’t want it to break.”

“I am  _ not  _ an idiot,” Seungcheol said, eyes glued at Jeonghan who showed no signs of struggle. “That was Soonyoung’s job.”

“It  _ still  _ is his job,” Jihoon muttered. “Hold on, don’t talk about my husband like that!”

“Why not?” Seungcheol exclaimed. “You know it’s true-”

“GUYS!” Jeonghan screamed from outside. The two of them broke their argument and looked out the window, where Jeonghan was standing on the ground, waving his hands. “You guys are, like, almost forty, now’s not the time to argue like children.”

“Jeonghan, you probably shouldn’t scream if we don’t want to attract any attention from any people here!” Seungcheol shouted right back at him.

Jihoon slapped his face. “And yet you continue to do it-”

“Yo, Jihoon, hurry and go down,” Seungcheol said. “Jeonghan can’t be alone down there for too long.”

“Your alpha is showing,” Jihoon mumbled, getting on the windowsill. “Oh, shit, we’re kind of high-”

“This is  _ not  _ because I am an alpha!” Seungcheol exclaimed, watching Jihoon climb down. “Forgive  _ me  _ for worrying about him-”

At that moment, Seungcheol heard some pound on the door behind him. 

_ Oh shit.  _

“Jihoon, hurry up!” Seungcheol half-whispered, half-shouted at Jihoon below him, who was at the bottom of the makeshift rope. “They’re coming!”

Jihoon was still missing a good three feet from the ground when he jumped, landing on the grass for a split second before falling on his back, Jeonghan rushing towards him to help him get up. 

Seungcheol could hear more pounding behind him, so he jumped out the window, holding onto the rope and he climbed down quickly, trying not to notice how he could feel the sheets come undone. 

“Don’t rush it, Seungcheol, we can’t have you getting hurt!” Jeonghan screamed at him. “Seungcheol!” 

They looked up to the window where they saw two men lean out the window where they had come from, shouting at them to get back up. They didn’t look recognizable, from what Seungcheol could tell, but, unfortunately, they knew  _ them _ . 

One of the men pulled out a knife out of nowhere and started cutting the rope, the other shouting at people indoors to go downstairs and find them, so in a moment of desperation, even though he was still a good ten feet above the ground, Seungcheol jumped, landing hard on his shoulder as he rolled around the ground. 

“SEUNGCHEOL!” Jeonghan screamed, kneeling down beside Seungcheol as the alpha groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder. “Seungcheol, no-”

“Hey, I’m  _ good _ -” Seungcheol mumbled, pushing himself off the ground with his scratched palms. “Let’s get out of here before they catch us.”

“If only the stars were out,” Jihoon said. “Do you guys know where we are?”

Seungcheol got up, his legs a bit shaky as he held onto Jeonghan. “No idea, but we should probably run into the forest,” he said, pointing at a location in front of him. “From what I can see, there’s a stream over there, that should help us with our location.”

“We have to run,” Jeonghan whispered, holding onto Seungcheol’s hand and grabbing Jihoon’s as well. “We have to run.”

  
  


***

Vernon held tightly onto Seungkwan’s arm, practically dragging him, as he led the two strangers so-called Junmyeon and Yifan to the inside of his house. 

Seungkwan wanted to get Mr. Kwon, but Vernon did not trust those strangers at all and thought they should keep an eye on them. What a coincidence they show up when his eomma goes missing. 

His father was falling asleep on the kitchen table, head resting on his hands as he had scatter photos displayed in front of him on the table. 

“Appa,” Vernon said, letting go of Seungkwan to shake Soonyoung softly. “Appa. These strangers need to talk to you.”

Soonyoung opened his eyes abruptly, jerking himself awake, as he blinked at Vernon a couple of times, eyes adjusting to the light. “Who wants to see me?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes hard. 

“I don’t know, these people saying they know Minghao and know he’s married to Junhui,” Vernon explained, stepping aside to let Soonyoung have a closer view of them. “Look at them, do you know them?”

Soonyoung frowned. “I’m not about to deal with the fucking government right now-”

“We’re not part of the government, sir,” Junmyeon said, bowing down. “I really need to know if I can find Minghao here, I know he’s married to Junhui- look.” 

Junmyeon showed Soonyoung the drawing he had of Minghao, careful not to ruin it, and when Soonyoung saw it his eyes bulged out of his sockets. 

He jumped out of his chair and stood right in front of Junmyeon, pointing his finger at him. “ _ Where  _ in the fucking world did you get that?”

Vernon and Seungkwan, both confused, had no idea what was going on and stood to the side, not wanting to get into the argument. 

Junmyeon gulped. “It’s- it’s from my eomma,” he said, before tilting his head, a light flickering in his head. “Wait, he- he drew you too, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Yifan whispered. “Do you know him, too?”

“My eomma had drawings of a lot of people,” Junmyeon explained to Soonyoung, going to his papers before pulling out a drawing, the hangul  _ Soonyoung _ on the top corner. “You’re Soonyoung, are you?” he said, pulling out the drawing to show the omega in front of him. 

Soonyoung remained in shock, staying in silence for another minute before speaking up again. “You got three seconds to tell me where you got these drawings.”

“You were friends with my appa,” Junmyeon explained. “Choi Seungcheol. And he was friends with Mingyu, Joshua, and Jihoon. Minghao and Junhui were friends with my eomma, Prince Yoon Jeonghan of the Kaelous Kingdom.”

“You- you’re  _ alive _ ?” Soonyoung managed to sputter out. “You’re-  _ what _ ?”

“Appa, what’s going on?” Vernon interrupted. It looked like his father was going to go into cardiac arrest any second now. “Why can’t he be alive?”

Soonyoung held out to Junmyeon for the drawings, his hands running over the pages. “Because last time I saw Jeonghan, he was stabbed,” Soonyoung explained to his son quietly. “And Seungcheol- he was my best friend…”

“They’re alive,” Junmyeon said. “They miss all of you guys. I need to bring Minghao and take him with me, I know he’s married and has a child but as the second prince of China, I don’t know where he would be at."

Soonyoung handed the drawings back to Junmyeon. “I’ll take you to see him,” he said, turning back to see Vernon and Seungkwan. “Yo, let’s go see uncle Xu.”

***

Taeyong sat on the couch, hugging his knees as his children sat next to him on their best behavior (well…  _ most _ of them; Jian kept hitting Gongchan for touching his leg.)

“So you said that Jaehyun did something,” Kun said, handing him a cup of tea. “Apparently it’s treason, and they are going to hurt him but you don’t know what.”

Taeyong nodded, wiping his face with the bottom of this shirt. “Yes,” he cried out, trying to keep his voice stable. “I’m scared.” 

“And the officials came to your house and you stabbed on of them-”

“I- I was panicking,” Taeyong said.

“No, you had every right, don’t worry,” Kun defended him. “So you haven’t seen Jaehyun.”

Taeyong shook his head. 

“If he’s being held somewhere,” Kun continued, “they would have him in this holding cell in the town hall’s basement. You should try to receive him there, or maybe try to get any other information about what’s going on.” 

Kun headed to one of the hallways and started speaking in Mandarin. Taeyong didn’t know who he could be talking to; last time he remembered, Kun didn’t have a mate nor was courting anyone. He didn’t have family either; all of them have passed away years ago. 

An omega came out of the hallway, bowing when he saw Taeyong. “Hello,” he said in heavenly accented Korean. 

“This is Xiaojun,” Kun explained. “I asked him if he could take care of your children while you and I head to the town hall and try to find out anything.” 

Taeyong looked at his children beside them; Jungshin, who was presenting, was running a really high fever, and he didn’t want to leave him. And he was merely five; all of his other children were younger than him. 

“Please take care of them,” Taeyong said. “I can’t lose their father and I can’t lose them either.”

  
  


***   
  


“WHY are they in the basement of the town hall and how did you hear about this?” Bambam started shouting at Youngjae, who was leading them through the forest to the center of the village. 

“I told you, a lot of rude as fuck omegas were gossiping about an unmated omega who was expecting, and when I couldn’t find Jinyoung and Jaebum I put two and two together,” Youngjae explained, yelping when he ran into a branch. “Ouch!”

Jackson sighed. “We should have done this sooner,” he muttered. 

“AY! It wasn’t your idea,” Youngjae reminded him. “And no more arguing! Right now, we are focused on rescuing those two and getting them the hell out of this village. God forbid those two love each other and have sex and whatnot, is that a crime now???”

“By village law, it is,” Yugyeom said. 

Youngjae grabbed a nearby stick and pointed it at Yugyeom. “Try me, bitch.”

Mark Tuan didn’t say anything as they headed towards the town hall, scared out of his skull. If they were to retrieve Jinyoung and Jaebum, would they get in trouble as well?

Well, who gives a fuck, anyways. Jinyoung and Jaebum deserved justice. 

He just hoped they didn’t hurt his friends back home. They had nothing to do with this, and the last thing Mark wanted was for them to be deemed as worse than outcasts. 

“How are we going to get them out?” he asked the group. “Are they- you don’t think they locked them up or something, right?”

“They’re probably in a ‘holding compartment’ or whatever nice name they want to call it,” Youngjae said, using air quotation marks. “But they’re still probably holding them hostage which is making me pissed off. Which one of y’all  _ snitched _ ?!”

“None of us,” Bambam said. “If I were, I would at least be wearing better clothes right now.”

“Ayo, Jackson got a nice hat, should we question him?” Yugyeom said, squirting his eyes at Jackson. “Hmmmm….”

“Dude, now is not the time,” Jackson said, rolling his eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“He’s dodging the question,” Bambam said as well, stroking his chin. “Hmmm…”

Jackson sighed. “I’m not even going to argue with you about how wrong you are-”

“Guys, shut up, we’re almost here,” Youngjae interrupted them, pointing at the town a couple of yards ahead of them. There wasn’t anyone standing outside, meaning the meeting must have started a while ago. 

“Okay, how do we enter this supposed basement?” Mark asked, still confused. 

Youngjae cracked his knuckles. “Towards the back, I think,” he said. “I always see this hidden door there when I eat stolen mangos.”

“You eat stolen  _ what _ ?!” Bambam yelled at him. 

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Jackson muttered under his breath, walking past him. “Come on, guys, before someone sees us and we get murdered.”

“SNITCH!” Yugyeom shouted at him. 

Mark sprinted after Jackson, catching up to him. “If they  _ are  _ being held, how do we get them out without causing a commotion?”

Jackson shrugged. “I don’t know and at this point I don’t care anymore, they’re hurting my friends,” he said, before whistling to the group. “Yo! Is this the door?” he said, pointing at a low door that did lead to an underground level of the town hall. 

Youngjae ran past him. “Yes, this is the door, I’m assuming,” he said, knocking on it. “Wow. No answer.”

Bambam pushed past him as well, rolling up his sleeves. “Step aside, peasants,” he said, scooting them away with his hands. “A strong omega presence is needed.”

“Then let Mark do it, not you,” Jackson said, lightly smacking Bambam. 

Mark frowned. “Haha, very funny,” he said, rolling his eyes. 

“What? Did you think I was joking?” Jackson said. 

“Oh my god, guys, hurry UP!” Yugyeom kicked the door down with his foot, stomping on it repeatedly until it completely came off the hinges. “THERE!”

“Quick, inside!” Youngjae said, jumping in. “We have no time!” 

The others followed inside, thankful to be out of the view of any stranger that might see them outside. Last thing they needed was any witnesses. 

The hallway was pretty dim and would have been completely dark, save for some torches spread out on the walls. (They had brought candles with them and homemade matches, but were grateful they didn’t have to use any.) All the rooms down here were shut, save for the tiny sliders on the doors that allowed you to see who was in the room. 

“JINYOUNG!” Bambam shouted, only for Youngjae and Jackson to slap his mouth shut. 

“Not now, Kunpimook!” Jackson hushed at him, taking a step forward to try to inspect their surroundings. “Jeez, what  _ is  _ this place?”

“Hello?” 

They heard a voice coming from the end of the hallway, a low voiced groan that instantly spooked them. 

“That doesn’t sound like them,” Mark whispered to the group. 

Jackson went towards the end of the hallway, standing there until he heard the groan again. Once he knew what door it was coming from, he opened the slider and his had a mixture of shock and confusion. 

“Alpha Jaehyun?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure if this is a minor SPOILER or not but  
no, jackson and jaehyun are not bad
> 
> also i was thinking of making this a series? its because theyres a lot of stuff i want to happen and to reveal but it doesnt tie in to the plot of this book so ill make it a sequel, will you guys like it? itll take a while to upload but im going to miss these characters :(


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been a while! Everything is okay, but some stuff came up. I have important notes at the end regarding this story, though, regarding a character.

“The meeting is now in session,” the official at the front said to everyone present in the main town hall room. “Let us begin.” 

Everyone sat in their seats, different expressions plastered. Some curious, some scared, some angry. There were those who wanted gossip, and those who were going to get hurt, and it was going to be interesting to see who belonged to each category. 

“To start with lighthearted news,” he said, “first we will announce newly courted and mated pairs."

_ That  _ was news. There were only a handful of couples that the people knew were going to have a union ceremony, and none have happened yet. Who could have officially been mated without a ceremony?

Of course, many people in the village couldn’t afford to have a union ceremony, but they often still picked out a date to sign the legal documents. Still, though, it was going to be interesting to see who was newly courted. 

“Omega Chittaphon from the Leechaiyapornkul Thai family,” he said, taking a pause. “And Alpha John Seo, officially mated-” 

An alpha from the Thai family, the father, stood up. “That’s impossible, he’s supposed to be mated with Yaesing!” he shouted at the official, Jaejin. “Not the alpha Seo!” 

The alpha of the Seo family looked around in confusion, realizing the commotion was about his son. “I- my Johnny hasn’t officially courted anyone, Official Jaejin,” he tried to explain to the official. “But surely if they are mated-"

“He will NOT be mated to your son!” Ten’s father shouted, looking at his omega son next to him, trembling. “Tell  _ everyone  _ in the town hall that you are courting Yaesing!”

Ten refused to look at his father, instead looking at the Seo family that was sitting ahead of them, at Johnny who was listening to his mother speak to him. The alpha who, despite not even knowing him, offered to help him out. 

He saw Johnny turn around, his mother still speaking to him, to look at Ten, a worried look in his eyes. He had no idea what he wanted Ten to do in the situation. 

Taking a breath, Ten stood up from his seat. “Official Jaejin,” he said calmly. “The documents you are staring in front of you are correct and free from any error.”

Johnny also frantically stood up from his seat, ready to defend Ten. “We courted in secret,” he lied. “And we didn’t have a union ceremony, it was a mutual agreement. He is my mate.”

“Since when did you two start courting in secret?” Johnny’s father asked him, still confused about the whole ordeal. “How long have you known him-”

“This is  _ outrageous! _ ” Ten’s father shouted. “HOW DARE YOUR SON TAKE MINE UNLAWFULLY-”

“You alphas are to remain  _ civil _ !” Official Jaejin screamed over them, shushing the two. “We have much more awful matters to attend to, and be thankful that we are finally having more mated pairs here!” 

Members of both families sat down, not daring to go against an official’s orders. 

“Next,” Official Jaejin said. “The courted pair, Alpha Min Yoongi and Omega Park Jimin, are to officially hold a union ceremony soon, date to be announced.” 

There was no reaction to it; everyone has known about the pair being courted for a long time. After all, there weren’t that many courted pairs in the village, anyways. 

“Newly courted couples.” He shuffled some papers. “Omega Zhong Chen Le and alpha Park Jisung. Alpha Son Hyungwoo and omega Yoo Kihyun. There’s that.”

There was some murmuring around the crowd. This many couples didn’t happen that often. 

“Now I will announce any upcoming trials,” he continued. 

_ Now  _ the whispering was increasing in volume. 

_ Trials _ ? 

Who has broken the law?

“Omega Park Jinyoung and Alpha Im Jaebum, for being an unmated pair that are expecting,” Official Jaejin said. “And Alpha Jung Jaehyun for treason-”

“Treason?” an omega spoke up. “Someone has committed  _ treason?! _ ”

“Not surprised about him and that baby maker,” some alpha muttered, yet some people were able to hear him. 

“Remain  _ civil _ , people, they will be given a chance to defend themselves in their respective trials,” Jaejin said, stepping down from his position. “Now Chief Leader Wu Xuheng has news of his own.” 

He stepped aside, letting the chief pass him, the crowd immediately shushing again. 

Chief Xuheng was looking rather worn out. There were rumors and speculations, of course, but for those who were left in the dark, it was puzzling to see him in this state. 

“Everyone,” he said, his voice low. “My son and his omega have been reported missing. Please help me find them.”

***

“Why are  _ you  _ here, alpha Jaehyun?” Jackson asked the alpha, who was in the locked cell in front of him. 

The only way to see inside the room was to peek through a small sliding door, where they could see the alpha lying on the concrete floor, gashed and bruises decorating his body, his clothes torn, hair disheveled. 

“ALPHA JAEHYUN!?!” Bambam shrieked, pushing past his friends to stand right in front of the room, where he could see Jaehyun in his state. “NOOOOOOO!”

“Can you be  _ any  _ louder!?” Youngjae asked him. 

Bambam grinned. “Try me-”

“Not  _ now, _ guys!!” Yugyeom shut them up, standing next to Jaehyun. “Alpha Jaehyun? Why are you in here?”

They could see how Jaehyun pushed himself off the ground slowly, emitting grunts and groans here and there. “I heard something I shouldn’t have-” he said quietly, as if anyone could overhear them. “And you know how they like to shut people up.”

“Wait, what did you even hear?” Mark asked, confused. 

Bambam rolled up his sleeves again. “We  _ got  _ to get him out of there.”

“You are out of your  _ fucking  _ mind if you think you can break metal,” Jackson pointed out. 

“There’s- they have keys at the end of the hallway,” Jaehyun said, breathing heavily; they must have bruised some of his ribs, if not broken. “You have to be quiet, even though the town hall meeting is in session, no doubt they have officials making rounds and you don’t want to be discovered here.”

Youngjae bit his lip. “Are Jinyoung and Jaebum here?” he asked, scared to hear the answer. 

“Your friends, they are also near, I don’t know where but I’ve heard them,” Jaehyun explained. He paused, sitting up completely, wiping some dried blood off his face. “I don’t know if they are hurt.”

“Jinyoung, Jaebum- aw,  _ fuck _ !” Mark pushed past them and headed down the hallway, peering through the sliding glasses of each holding cell. “Where are they, they  _ have  _ to be here!”

“You do left, I’ll do right!” Yugyeom exclaimed, helping Mark look. “Jackson, get the keys, idiot!” 

“I am  _ not  _ an idiot!” Jackson said, running past them through the hall to get the so-called keys. “I’m not the one yelling all the time while we are in danger!”

Mark rolled his eyes, thinking how immature the group is, when, while looking at one of the glass sliding doors, stopped in his tracks. 

Jinyoung and Jaebum. 

“Uh, Jackson?” Mark spoke out. “We’re gonna need those keys faster.”

  
  


***

“You  _ really  _ didn’t have to skip the town hall meeting to stay here with me,” Baekhyun said to Chanyeol. 

The alpha waved him off. “It’s fine, I wanted to,” he said, giving a sad smile to Baekhyun. “Like I said, it’s not good for the omegas right now, and I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

Baekhyun shook his head, staring at the sand under his toes as he drew nonsensical lines on them. “Well, that’s surely a first,” he muttered. 

Chanyeol frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, confused. 

Baekhyun shrugged. “No one in the village cares about us, since we’re just outcasts. Not pretty enough, not quiet enough, not obedient enough,” he trailed off. “Not  _ omega  _ enough.”

“What- Baekhyun, who thinks that?” Chanyeol asked him. “You’re-  _ fuck _ , who said you’re not pretty?”

“I’m not stupid,” Baekhyun interrupted him. “No,  _ we’re  _ not stupid. I may have no redeeming qualities but I’m not deaf,” he said, pausing. “I just- I don’t know why the village people care so much.” 

Chanyeol didn’t respond immediately, staring at the river in front of them as well. “Me neither,” he said finally. “I don’t like how they treat omegas here.”

“Nothing will change,” Baekhyun said. “Maturing as an omega means accepting your reality and making the best of it.” 

Chanyeol covered his face with his hand, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Baekhyun,” he said. “You don’t deserve that.”

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around his waist. “Do I?” he whispered to himself. 

Chanyeol scooted closer next to Baekhyun, slowly to see if the omega would reject his closeness. “Do you want me to hug you?” he asked him quietly. 

Baekhyun shut his eyes tight, nodding as he felt Chanyeol wrap an arm around him, tears streaking down his face. 

***

  
  


“What do you plan on doing with Jaehyun after you get him out?” Kun asked Taeyong beside him. 

The omega stopped in his tracks, staring wide-eyed at Kun. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Kun shrugged. “I mean, you  _ are  _ breaking him out,” he pointed out. “It’s not like you can take him back home, that’ll put you two in a worst spot.”

Taeyong didn’t say anything at first, clutching the bat he had in his hands closer to his chest. “I- I don’t know,” he muttered at last. “I just- I just need him to be safe first."

Kun nodded. “Yeah, I know what you’re trying to say,” he said. “Act first, think later.”

They continued walking through the mainly-empty pathways. Most of the people were currently attending the town hall meeting or remaining indoors meaning that there weren’t that many people outside. Of course, there were the few that were milling around, mostly omegas busy doing some chores, but other than that, they were free to head to the town hall without raising any questions. 

Thankfully, they did reach up to the building without any problems, so Kun led him around to the supposed side where there was a small hidden door, he explained, that led to the basement. 

“How do you know about this?” Taeyong asked him, curious. He doesn’t know much about Kun nor what he does in the village. 

Kun shrugged. “Just stuff my family explained back when they were alive, I guess. I’ve also seen officials do stuff when they think no one is looking.”

Taeyong raised an eye, puzzled at what kinds of stuff Kun was talking about, when the alpha stopped him, a startled look on his face. 

“If anyone asks, you were helping me and Jaehyun let you,” Kun muttered, jogging up to the door.

“If- what do you mean, who’s here, what-?” Taeyong asked, his voice rising slightly as he glanced around, thinking that maybe someone had been following them until he paid more attention to the door. 

It was already open. 

Taeyong’s eyes widened, staring at Kun in shock wondering what he was going to do, when the alpha quietly peered inside the building, eyes furrowed as he motioned for Taeyong to come closer. 

“Come quickly before we get discovered,” Kun said, taking a step inside. 

He must have been speaking to someone inside, Taeyong realized, because Kun’s mouth was moving yet Taeyong had no idea what the alpha was saying. Who could Kun be talking to?

Taeyong, paranoid, after looking around to make sure no one was following them, hurried after Kun, reminding himself what he was here for. He was here for Jaehyun.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyong asked, standing right behind Kun. “Is someone here-”

What he saw made him stop in his tracks. 

There, in what appeared to be a dimly lit hallway with a multitude of rooms on the sides, were some young omegas and alphas, two of them who appeared to be injured and-

_ Jaehyun.  _

Without hearing Kun’s answer, Taeyong dashed towards his love, tears streaking down his face as he held him in an embrace, feeling those familiar hands wrapped around him, and everything felt okay again. 

  
  


***

  
  


Shin sat on the familiar log in the woods, peeling away some stalks of bamboo, when he sensed a familiar alpha smell behind him. 

Sighing, Shin turned around, not even noticing Takuya’s big grin on his face. “What do you want?”

Takuya tilted his head, confused. “You,” he said simply. “Why?”

Realistically, Shin knew Takuya was trying to say “hanging out with you”, but the way he said it made it sound like… something else. 

He shrugged. “At this rate, you can buy me,” he muttered, continuing to peel the stalks of bamboo. 

Takuya frowned. “Buy?”

“Yeah,” Shin said. “Buy. As in, I’m property. Because that’s how the town views us.” 

“You’re not property,” Takuya said rather too quickly. “Never. No one... should be property. Why- why do they think that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Shin said, setting his knife down. “I mean… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“It’s not fair,” Takuya said, clearly about to go on a rant. “Not fair. You’re not property. What if- what if someone love you and hope you love them but they can’t buy you but someone else in village can? You deserve choice!! Choice to say yes or no to one or both!!”

“I DON’T  _ KNOW,  _ TAKUYA!” Shin yelled, standing up from his spot on the log. “I don’t know, okay?! As the alphas and officials here who don’t think I deserve basic rights, fuck, I don’t get involved in any affairs and I do my chores quietly only to discover that in the meeting they paired up two omegas behind everyone’s backs and they won’t have a choice!! I don’t know!!”

Takuya stared at him for a good few seconds, not responding immediately to Shin’s outburst as he tried to process the words in his head. “They pair omegas?” he asked. “You?”

Shin shook his head. “Not me,” he said. “And I don’t know if the omegas were at the meeting, but from what the village had been saying, omegas Baekhyun and Si Cheng-”

“SI CHENG?!” Takuya shrieked. “SI CHENG?! CHINESE OMEGA SI CHENG?!"

“Yeah, Si Cheng, he’s one of the Chinese immigrants, I think,” Shin explained, confused as to how Shin knows this Si Cheng. “Wait, how do you-”

“YUTA LOVE SI CHENG!” Takuya continued yelling, running away from Shin. “HE LOVE HIM!”

“Hold on, Takuya! Where are you going?!” Shin yelled after him, chasing him to wherever Takuya was going. “TAKUYA!”

  
  


***

“DINNER!!!!” Minghao shrieked, lifting up a pot of soup above his head. “CHICKEN SOUP!!!!”

“Eomma,” Luhan said, not even bothering to look up from the table; he was busy carving a piece of wood with his pocket knife, the way his father taught him. “You creep me out.”

Minghao faked a gasp. “I- I can’t  _ believe  _ what I’m HEARING!!” he shouted. “JUNHUIIIIII-”

Junhui came into the dining room, chewing on an apple. “Wot,” he said, swallowing afterwards. “Wasn’t me.”

Minghao squinted his eyes at Junhui. “Do what?” 

“IT WAS TAOZI!” Junhui screamed, running out of the dining room. “IT WASN’T MEEEEE-”

“COME BACK HERE, JUN!!” Minghao screamed as well, setting the pot on the table hastily as he chased Junhui with a wooden spoon. “COME HERE!!”

Luhan continued his wood carving until he sensed someone next to him. “Hey, Tao,” he said, still not looking up. 

Zitao had sat next to Luhan at the kitchen table, holding a cracker as he watched his parents scream around the house. “I want to be concerned.” 

“Yeah, me too,” Luhan said, finally looking up to see his younger brother. “What did appa do that he started blaming you?”

Zitao shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not surprised.”

Luhan nodded, going back to his wood carving as Zitao took a small bite of his cracker. “If they act like this over whatever insignificant thing appa did, I can’t believe how they’ll act when they see you with that alpha.”

“Who, Sehun?” Zitao asked, shoving the rest of the cracker in his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he continued speaking. “I don’t know, to be honest. Appa will probably want to threaten him until he sees him in person and gets scared.”

“Geez, for a member of the guard, he  _ sure  _ is a scaredy cat,” Luhan mumbled, setting his wood carving down, staring at his callus fingers. 

Zitao looked at what Luhan had carved; it looked like a branch of sorts, with leaves or whatnot. Zitao didn’t know much about plants. “Is that for Minseok?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” Luhan said rather too quickly. “I’ll give it to him when I ask him to court me.”

“And when will  _ that  _ be?” Zitao asked him rhetorically, not really believing in whatever answer Luhan was going to give; the beta had been in love with the omega for the past two years. 

“Soon,” was all Luhan said, picking up his pocket knife. “I don’t know if he’ll want someone like me-”

“Luhan-” Zitao tried to say until they both heard a knock on the door. 

“MINGHAO, DON’T THREATEN ME WITH THE WOODEN PIECE OF SHIT AND LET ME GET THE DOOR-” 

“I got it,” Luhan mumbled, getting up from the table. “It’s probably the milkman.”

Zitao wrinkled his nose. “Ew, milk.”

Luhan took his time getting to the door, hearing how his parents started screaming about fruit tarts from the other side of the house. Not a surprise. 

He opened the door slightly, opening it wider once he realized who was at the other side. “Oh, hey uncle Kwon,” he said.

“Hey, Luhan!” Soonyoung said. Luhan noticed how there was an alpha and omega behind him, probably around his age. “Is Junhui or Minghao here?”

“Did you say- did you say…  _ Luhan _ ?” the omega said. 

Luhan frowned. He didn’t know who this omega was. “Yeah, I’m Luhan,” he said. “And you are?”

The omega didn’t say anything else, staring at him in shock. 

“Oh, he’s Yifan,” Soonyoung said, pointing at the quiet, stoic alpha at the back. “And he’s Junmyeon.”

Luhan’s eyes widened. “Junmyeon as in-”

“As in your eomma’s best friend’s child, yes,” Soonyoung said. “That Junmyeon.”

Luhan stared at the three of them, not saying anything in shock. 

He knew who Junmyeon was. There wasn’t a single week in his entire life that his eomma had a breakdown about his best friend, the missing prince of Kaeleous, who was presumed dead. Minghao was one of the only people who knew for a fact that Jeonghan was expecting a child, the child of the alpha guard Seungcheol that worked at the palace. 

Once, when Luhan was very young, he stupidly ask his appa Junhui why his eomma cried so much, and as the years and Junhui told him more of the story, Luhan couldn’t help but what ended up happening to this Jeonghan and Seungcheol and they’re child that they wanted to name Junmyeon. 

And now this Junmyeon was standing in front of him. 

“Eomma?” Luhan said finally, stepping back in the house to call for his eomma more clearly. “EOMMA!” 

“Who’s here- oh, uncle Kwon!” Zitao said, appearing beside Luhan, who had now gone back into the house to yell for his parents. “Who are you guys?”

“Uh, this is Jeonghan’s kid,” Soonyoung said quickly, pointing to Junmyeon. “And that’s his mate behind him. Oh, Junmyeon, this is Luhan’s younger brother, Zitao.”

Junmyeon, who had been motionless the entire time once he saw the supposed Luhan, jerked back once Soonyoung pointed Zitao. “ _ Brother?” _

Zitao’s eyes widened. “Wait, did you say Jun-”

Luhan came back up behind him, their parents in tow. “Eomma, who have to meet these people,” he said, pushing them to the front of the doorway. 

Minghao and Junhui, who had no idea what was going on (Luhan just screamed that it was urgent), were now standing at the front. “Oh, hey Soonyoung,” Minghao said, waving to the alpha. “How’s Vernon’s love life going, you promised to tell me."

“Both him and Seungkwan are oblivious,” Soonyoung said. “But anyways, these teens wanted to meet you.” 

Minghao grinned at the unfamiliar omega and alpha. “Hey, I’m Minghao, what’s up?” he said, bowing. 

Junmyeon's eyes were still wide in shock, and Minghao was about to wave his hand in front of the startled omega’s face, until he scrambled to pull out his papers from his bag. “Minghao, Minghao, Minghao-”

“That’s me, yeah,” Minghao said, tilting his head in confusion. “Is something wrong, did Junhui break something of yours, too-”

“I DIDN’T DO SHIT!” Junhui yelled. 

Junmyeon, at last, pulled out a piece of paper, staring at it. “You haven’t aged.”

“Thank you!” Minghao beamed. He, along with Junhui, always got complimented for their youthfulness and it made him happy to know that his skincare routine since the age of fourteen had clearly worked. 

His cheerful mood vanished, however, when Junmyeon finally flipped the paper to show Minghao the drawing-

_ Holy shit _ .

“Minghao,” Junmyeon said again, breathing heavily. “Xu Minghao.”

Minghao stared at the drawing of himself, recognizing the familiar lines, the shading, the yellowed pages, the familiar signature at the bottom of the drawing. 

“Who are you?” Minghao whispered, finally looking at the omega in the eye. "And where did you get this?"

Junmyeon hugged the drawing closer to his chest. “Junmyeon,” he said finally, trying to get over his shock. “And I got it from my eomma Yoon Jeonghan-”

Before he could finish, he felt a pair of arms around him, hugging him tightly, and he realized it was Minghao, who he could feel the tears on his cheeks. 

“Is he alive?” Minghao sputtered out, his voice cracking. 

Junmyeon wrapped his right arm around Minghao slowly, the other holding onto the drawing. He didn’t expect the hug. “Both of them and they miss you.”

Before he knew it, the best friend of his eomma started crying, hugging Junmyeon tightly as to never let him go. 

  
  
***   
  


  
Soon, it was getting dark, and the three of them knew they had to stop walking. 

“I got things to live for, I don’t have time to die,” Jihoon said, glaring at a nearby snake, who retreated away in fear of the omega. “Go away!” 

“Jihoon, it is  _ not  _ the animal’s fault,” Seungcheol said, walking slower than the two omegas, wanting to watch them from behind to make sure everything was safe. 

“I don’t care,” Jihoon said, picking up a nearby stick in case another cursed animal from god’s creation wanted to try him. “I’m mad, I haven’t seen Soonyoung and Vernon in more than a week.” 

Jeonghan rolled his eyes, not surprised at how quickly Jihoon and Seungcheol went back to their usual antics, despite having not seen each in over seventeen years. “Hey, tell us about you and Soonyoung,” he said quietly, trying not to think of his Junmyeon, out there alone with only Yifan to take care of him. 

Jihoon didn’t say anything at first, the only sounds of them in the woods being them three stepping over dead, crunchy leaves. “I love him,” he said. “And I miss him, and fuck, I  _ really  _ hope he doesn’t do something stupid, he still has Vernon to take care of, and I guess Seungkwan, too, though that omega will probably kick my ass if he heard me refer to him as my child.”

“Who, Seungkwan, your son’s best friend?” Seungcheol asked, curious. “How- how are those two?” he tried to stop a laugh. “I thought that if you ever got to have a son you would call him Hansol.” 

“Hell yeah I named him Hansol,” Jihoon said, turning around to look at Seungcheol, walking backwards. “You know it was my dream since I’m practically infertile, but then of course me and Soonyoung couldn’t come to terms on a name.”

“How did Soonyoung win?” Jeonghan asked. 

Jihoon raised the stick in the air. “HE DIDN’T! That’s the worst part! I won our bet so I got to name him Hansol, but as a compromise we gave him Vernon as the middle name,” Jihoon explained. “And of course Vernon grows up saying ‘I don’t like Hansol, I like Vernon better’ and at the end of the day his father had the last laugh.”

“Figured,” Seungcheol said. “Soonyoung  _ never  _ wins a bet.”

“No the hell he does not,” Jihoon said, turning back around as he shook his head. “Gosh. But, you know....” he trailed off. “I’m just glad I was able to have a child to name, anyways.”

Jeonghan looked up to the sky, the stars slowly appearing. He remembers how in the past Seungcheol would tell him that it was highly unlikely for Jihoon to have kids and how the omega desperately wanted one. “Me too,” he said quietly. 

Seungcheol, sensing his mate’s discomfort, jogged up to stand next to him, placing an arm around the omega’s shoulder. “Jihoon has his Vernon, and we have our Junmyeon,” he reminded him. “Junmyeon who is doing a lot better than we are right now with Yifan.”

“Yo, tell me about your Junmyeon,” Jihoon said, dramatically jumping over a log on the ground, thinking of how his son and his friend play outside all the time. “You said he was an omega?”

“Yeah, and he got  _ my  _ gorgeous brown hair,” Jeonghan said proudly. “Although he keeps it short."

“Course he does, no one has the patience to keep it that long,” Seungcheol said. 

Jihoon coughed. “Except Junhui that one time,” he muttered. 

“I HEARD THAT!” Jeonghan yelled. 

Right when Jihoon was going to give him a response, however, Seungcheol heard some twigs snapping. 

He stopped both Jeonghan and Jihoon, grabbing onto their arms tightly, not saying a word, choosing to give him a look. People were nearby.

_ Don’t say a word _ he mouthed, gesturing to the two omegas to move back against the tree quietly. 

Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward around the forest, when he could sense an omega close to him. Deep down, though, he knew there were more surrounding them. 

“We’re lost, forgive us if we stepped on your land,” he said loudly, making sure he was heard. “We mean no harm.”

Jeonghan, remembering the last time him and Seungcheol were alone in the woods together, harshly whispered to him. “Seungcheol-”

“One of us has to survive for Junmyeon,” Seungcheol reminded him quietly, stealing a glance at his love. “Just hold onto Jihoon.”

Jihoon, who wanted to make a comment of Seungcheol trying to be alpha, held his tongue. They were  _ not  _ in a situation where he could make his sarcastic remarks freely.

Seungcheol took another breath before continuing. “I am Kim Seungcheol,” he said, using his fake surname that he used in the village. “Please do not hurt us, we have no weapons.”

As soon as he said Seungcheol, he heard someone step out of their hiding spot, which was  _ not  _ the omega who he sensed close to him, but yet another farther away. 

“Scoups man?” the omega said, bow and arrows in his hands. 

As a cue, the other people stepping out of their hiding spaces, including the tall omega who had been near Seungcheol the whole time, who he noticed was tall and had somewhat long hair as well. 

Seungcheol looked back at the omega who said Scoups, eyes widened once he realized who was in front of him, someone who disappeared from the village a  _ long  _ time ago. 

Bang Chan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i added a stray kids tag for a reason ;)
> 
> And regarding the stray kids tag, I do realize that I have mentioned Chan and Woojin throughout this fic for foreshadowing reasons (yes you know where this is going.) And regarding Woojin, we are now in a dilemma. 
> 
> I refuse to write about Woojin in any upcoming fics I have. No matter whether the accusations were true or not, I despise how he handed the situation and his morals are disturbing (it's true that he did talk shit about chan while still in the group I believe, as well.) I had to alter my stories (none were mainly woochan, though) and for some I want to make Chan be paired with someone else, but I don't know who. I was opening up to the idea of Kun, ngl, but since I already make Kun and Xiaojun a pair in here, I can't do that, so you guys have two options:
> 
> 1\. I keep saying woojin and chan in this story, and ONLY for the remainder of this story and the rest of the series, as they have already made appearances or 2. you guys give me a good idea of who an alpha would be and I will go back and change this name whenever I can find it. If I get no responses, I'll keep it as Woojin until I think of someone better. Stay healthy peeps!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man my forearms hurt for writing too much

_ Today was the day Jeonghan had been waiting for! _

_ The gala was taking place today, so early in the morning, two maids came to Jeonghan’s room and to awaken him, remembering him that he had a lot to do for today. _

_ Jeonghan, buzzing with excitement, took a long bath and exfoliated himself, playing with the bubbles that formed in the large bath. When he finally came out, dried and his long hair in a towel, however, he found Minghao waiting for him on his bed, criss-crossed.  _

_ “Hello, Princess of Kaeleous!” Minghao exclaimed, beaming. “Today is the  _ day!”

_ Jeonghan frowned. “I hate being called Princess,” he muttered. “I’m not even a girl.” _

_ “My bad, I meant to say best friend of mine,” Minghao corrected himself. A lot of people did refer to Jeonghan as the princess, anyways, but no matter how many times you told him it wasn’t for criticism, Jeonghan still had his own opinion. “But anyways! It’s the g-a-l-a.” _

_ “I  _ know,  _ god, I have  _ so  _ much work to do today,” Jeonghan said, unraveling the towel in his hair. He was still practically half-naked, having just come out of the bath with only a towel wrapped around his waist, but eh, it was just Minghao, anyways. “But I’m so excited, I hope-” _

_ “You see Seungcheol?” Minghao teased, laughing.  _

_ Jeonghan’s face turned red, even though Minghao didn’t lie. “Don’t make fun of me!” he yelled, whacking the towel in his hands on Minghao, who still continued to laugh at his friend. “Minghao!” _

_ “I’m  _ sorry _ ,” Minghao said, wiping the tears off his face with his sleeve. He was still wearing pajamas; since he wasn’t from this kingdom, anyways, only visiting as a “guest” (Hint: stay besides his friend the  _ entire  _ time), he didn’t have that much royal obligations to perform. Plus, he wasn’t even the firstborn back in China anyways. “But come on, Junhui told me that Seungcheol was going to be there anyways. You  _ have  _ to make progress in your relationship tonight.” _

_ “Making progress,” Jeonghan mumbled. “I can’t, he’s just too perfect, I’m  _ nothing  _ compared to him _ -”

_ “Bitch, you’re a P R I N C E,” Minghao interrupted him. “You idiot. Imbecile.” _

_ “I am  _ not  _ an imbecile,” Jeonghan said, sighing as he sat down on the bed besides Minghao. “This is too hard.” _

_ “It’s not! Trust me, I promise everything is going to turn out all right,” Minghao said. “Now hurry and get dressed, I want a fruit tart for breakfast.” _

_ “You can GLADLY make your own fruit tart,” Jeonghan said, lying down on the bed. The maids had replaced the sheets earlier when he was bathing, so they were fresh and crisp. “Junhui starts courting you in ONE day and now you’re acting like you know more.” _

_ “Hmm, have  _ you  _ kissed Seungcheol?” Minghao asked rhetorically. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now PLEASE, I am STARVING, you don’t want your best friend to starve, do you?” _

  
  


***

“So I had originally made chicken soup for the four of us but I think it’ll stretch enough for seven since I always make enough for leftovers,” Minghao said, setting the pot of soup down on the table. “No one is going to starve! I hope you guys enjoy it.”

“Thanks, babe, you know I love you,” Junhui said, leaning across the table to give Minghao a peck on his cheek.

Zitao squinted his eyes. “Bleh.”

“You’re one to talk,” Luhan muttered under his breath.

“Hmm? What was that, Luhan?” Minghao asked his son. “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you-”

“He was being rude and inconsiderate,” Zitao interrupted him, picking up his spoon. “I want chicken noodle soup.”

“Do you guys have lime?” Soonyoung asked. “I’m used to eating it with lime.”

Minghao clapped his hands together. “Sorry, that’s what I forgot! Hold on, give me one second-”

He dashed back into the kitchen, where they immediately heard something heavy fall and Minghao yelping.

“MY LOVE, WHO HURT YOU?!” Junhui yelled, jumping out of his chair and dashing into the kitchen. “MINGHAO!”

“I have ten minutes before Minseok gets here,” Luhan said, standing up and grabbing the ladle. “Zitao, give me your bowl.”

Zitao, who usually argued that he could serve himself, didn’t say anything as there were guests present, so he handed his older brother his bowl, rolling his eyes. 

Junmyeon didn’t say a word during the whole thing, staring at the empty bowl in front of him, still processing everything that has happened in the past two hours.

“Hey, are you okay?” Junmyeon looked at Yifan, who was seated besides him. “You look like you’re in a daze.”

Junmyeon shook his head. “I’m fine, it’s just… I never imagined this in a million years.”

Yifan nodded. “Yeah, I get what you mean,” he said quietly, extending his palm out to Junmyeon. “May I?”

“I- uh, yeah, yeah,” Junmyeon whispered, slowly reaching out to hold Yifan’s hand, feeling his neck getting hot. 

Minghao came back from the kitchen, an ice pack on his head and a Junhui behind him, rambling apologies. “Anyways- oh, fuck, I forgot the lime and salt.”

“I got it, you sit down,” Junhui said quickly, dashing back into the kitchen, leaving Minghao standing alone to roll his eyes at him.

“Dude, how do you already have an injury?” Soonyoung asked, surprised. 

Minghao glared at Luhan and Zitao, who were taken aback. “Which one of you two left a rock in the bag with wheat crackers?”

Luhan, who set the bowl down in front of his brother, immediately pointed fingers. “He was eating crackers earlier.”

“Woah, thank you for sticking up for me,” Zitao said, rolling his eyes. “And I didn’t even  _ grab  _ those crackers, I’m eating the ones Sehun gave me-”

“Who’s Sehun?” the two turned to look at Minghao. “Who is he?”

Zitao’s eyes widened when he realized what he said. “No one,” he said quickly.

“I FOUND THE LIMES AND SALT!” Junhui exclaimed, carrying a small bowl in his hands which had the limes cut in half and the salt shaker. “Sorry, I couldn’t find them.”

“They were  _ literally  _ on the counter,” Minghao said. “Junhui, do you need glasses?”

“Probably, if I keep seeing you, aka the love of my life,” Junhui said, setting the bowl on the table before grabbing Minghao’s bowl to serve him. “You are brighter than the sun. Other than that, I am  _ perfectly  _ fine.”

“Clearly you are fine,” Soonyoung said, grabbing a lime. “You are insane.”

“Nice pickup line, appa,” Luhan said, grabbing his spoon to eat the soup in front of him. Like he said, Minseok was about to show up any second now.

“ANYWAYS!” Minghao sat down and crossed his arms in front of him, staring at Junmyeon who was still looking at his lap. “Does Jeonghan still make his fruit tarts?”

“THAT’S the question you ask him after your twenty-minute meltdown?” Soonyoung asked him in disbelief. “Deadass?”

“I can ASK him whatever I want, my dream is finally coming true!” Minghao yelled at him. “Anyways.”

“He- I didn’t get to try them until recently,” Junmyeon spoke up, raising an eye at them. He wasn’t used to being in a room with so many people. “The ingredients are hard to find.”

Minghao titled his head. “Hard to find?” he asked. “Where do you guys live?”

“Uh… I mean... “ Junmyeon looked at Yifan. “We live in a village in the forest, I don’t know much about it.”

“He and his family didn’t really interact with the others in the village,” Yifan added, jumping in to help. “It took us a few hours to get here.”

Soonyoung frowned. “A village?” he asked. “Do you guys know about here and the Kaeleous Kingdom?”

Yifan raised his hands as in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture. “I mean, the officials heard rumors about it but the people don’t know, it’s… kind of complicated.”

“Officials?” Minghao asked. “Like the government? Is it democratic or something?”

“Eomma,  _ we  _ don’t even live in a democratic political system,” Zitao pointed out. “Monarchy?”

“Oh,  _ fuck _ , I forgot about King Yoon,” Minghao said truthfully. “Wait, Junmyeon… how much have Seungcheol and Jeonghan told you about their past?”

Junmyeon played with the spoon in his hands, still not have taken a bite of the soup in front of him. “Everything, I guess,” he said. “Eomma says he was a prince and you were his best friend, he told me about his mother, about him pining after Seungcheol and you after Junhui-”

“Babe, you had a crush on me?” Junhui asked, placing a hand over his chest. “I’m flattered.”

“I will-” Minghao slightly got up and pretended that he was going to hit Junhui, sitting back down. “Anyways. But uh, Junmyeon, did he tell you… why he left?”

Junmyeon nodded. “Appa got him… well, pregnant, and he says people were trying to kill him, and eomma says that he got stabbed and he almost lost me-”

“Yeah, I remember that day,” Soonyoung said. “It was… god, it was so scary, I had genuine fear for Seungcheol.”

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have been a jerk to Jeonghan and befriended some bad people,” Minghao muttered, picking up some soup with his spoon. “Stupid.”

Junmyeon frowned. “What do you mean jerk? Jeonghan says Seungcheol was- was always nice to him,” Junmyeon corrected him. That fact had been drilled in his head his entire life. 

“Uh, no, he wasn’t,” Minghao corrected him. “Seungcheol ruined his mother’s dress at the gala, turns out Seungcheol really hated him and wanted to ruin his reputation.” He grabbed one of the limes and squeezed it on his soup. “Obviously, they made up and started seeing each other in secret, but, yeah, that incident made them be on a rocky slope for a bit.”

“Wait, appa- Seungcheol ruined  _ what _ ?” Junmyeon asked. “Eomma had- Jeonghan has a scarf that he got from his mother…”

Minghao looked at Junhui and Soonyoung, all giving each other glances. 

A doorbell sound interrupted them, and immediately Luhan got up, picking up his already empty bowl. “That’s Minseok, we’re going to be in my room, I’ll do the dishes, eomma.”

“Oh, yeah, have fun,” Minghao spoke up, his eyes wandering to his bowl of soup. “Um… Junmyeon, if I mind asking… is the scarf white and translucent?”

Junmyeon thought of the scarf, the one his parents gave him when he had the engagement party with Yifan. They said they have been wanting to give it to him when he became an adult, and Junmyeon knew how much that meant to his mother. 

“Yeah, it is,” Junmyeon answered.

Minghao ran his fingers through his head. “He really saved the fabric, didn’t he?” he muttered under his breath, laughing. “He really did.”

***

Yuta looked up when Si Cheng entered his room, his face streaked with tears. 

“Hey, you’re back- uh, were you- were you crying?” Yuta asked. “Are you okay? What happened at the meeting, anyways?”

Si Cheng shook his head, closing his eyes. “It- I hated it,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I- I can’t believe it.”

Yuta got up from where he was sitting on the ground. “Did they hurt you?” Yuta asked, his voice getting angry. “Did- can I ask what they did?”

Si Cheng slid down against the door, bringing his knees closer to his chest as he started crying on his knees. 

In a flash, Yuta sat next to Si Cheng and pulled him into a hug, the omega’s crying getting louder as he clutched onto Yuta’s shirt, not saying anything in return.

He doesn’t know how long they sat there on the floor, Yuta holding a crying Si Cheng. Could have been five minutes, could have been an hour, Yuta didn’t know. But by the time Si Cheng was finished, he pulled away, hiccuping here and there as he wiped his face with the back of his hand.

“They announced some news and stuff,” Si Cheng explained slowly, trying to explain what happened, hiccuping again. “And… they paired up some omegas, including… including me.”

Yuta froze, staring at Si Cheng who was now looking at him, where Yuta could notice his red and puffy eyes. “Yuta?”

“They- they really went that far?” Yuta asked quietly. 

Si Cheng nodded. “There’s this alpha named Jaewoo,” he whispered. “A grandson of one of the Elders. I- I don’t like him, I’ve seen him be rude and- and I’m scared, he’s going to force me and-”

“ _ No  _ one is going to force you,” Yuta muttered under his breath. “They- they really won’t let you say no?”

Si Cheng shook his head. “My mother really tried,” he whispered. “But they called her names and- and he said he had  _ no  _ problem mating a child of an immigrant-”

“This- this is  _ fucking  _ bullshit!” Yuta yelled. “They can’t  _ do  _ that, who the fuck do they think they are?!”

“I- I don’t know, but…” Si Cheng closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying to prevent a tear falling down. “I don’t know, I mean, they’re in charge…”

Yuta clenched his fist, running his other hand through his hair. “So you… you’re never going to be with someone you love then. Is that what they want?”

“Adultery is frowned upon,” Si Cheng agreed sadly. “And I wasn’t going to have a chance with him, anyways.”

Yuta leaned against the wall, making eye contact with Si Cheng. “Who’s him?” he asked softly. “And why not?”

Si Cheng shook his head, rubbing his eyes vigorously. He knew he was looking like a mess right now. “You said you were leaving soon,” he explained. 

They sat there in silence, Si Cheng busying himself with drying off his face, while Yuta processed what Si Cheng just dropped on him.

“Let me kiss you,” Yuta asked abruptly. “Just… let me.”   
  


“I- but, Yuta, they’re- they’re going to take me away from my mother,” Si Cheng explained again.

“That is  _ their  _ fucking problem,” Yuta said. “Just… if you want. Unlike them, I don’t force people.”

Si Cheng laughed, sniffling as he wiped his eyes again. “That is true,” he said. “And also, unlike them, I wouldn’t give them permission.”

Yuta curled his hand around Si Cheng’s neck, the two grinning despite one of them having been angry moments prior and the other crying, but for a minute, they let themselves forget about the future as their lips met, kissing each other slowly as if they had all the time in the world. 

  
  


***

Baekhyun and Chanyeol walked back from their swim in the river, though this time, it was a bit different. 

Baekhyun thought about Chanyeol holding him as he sobbed pathetically, Chanyeol who had held him the entire time. At one point, Chanyeol reached out to grab his hand, and they still had yet to let go. 

He liked the warm feeling, Baekhyun thought, despite them both being wet from the swim. Chanyeol just gave him a warm feeling in general, which Baekhyun thought was weird, considering the latter being an alpha. Alphas were supposed to be cold, not warm. 

Why wasn’t Chanyeol cold?

“Let’s hope we didn’t miss anything important in the meeting,” Chanyeol said, breaking the silence. He gave Baekhyun one of his usual grins. “I know Shownu courting Kihyun was going to be announced, though I don’t know anything else.”

“Well, Jimin and Yoongi are engaged,” Baekhyun added. “That’ll get announced, though Jimin just wants something small. I know he’s really looking forward to it, he really does love Yoongi.”

“Yoongi, man, that alpha creeps me out,” Chanyeol said. “I feel like he could murder me in a heartbeat. Wait, does he even  _ have  _ a heart?”

“He’s really  _ not  _ as cruel as you’re making him to be,” Baekhyun corrected him. “But, I mean, he would do anything for Jimink to be honest.”

“Ah, that’s really cute,” Chanyeol said, smiling. “I like romantic couples, it gives me hope.”

Baekhyun nodded. He didn’t think that he would be in a relationship one day, but… Yoongi and Jimin did have something special, he had to admit.

“Wait, is that- why do people always find us when we get out of the river??” Chanyeol asked, pointing into the distance with his free hand. “I think that’s- wait, that’s Jungkook, he looks nervous.”

“Is…” Baekhyun tried to think of the important alphas. Most of them, especially sons of the officials, were really rude and aggressive. The only ones he could think that were actually okay were Yifan and his friends, along with a few other ones. “Is he your friend?”

“Yeah, he has a weird obsession with coconuts,” Chanyeol said. “JUNGKOOK! What happened at the meeting this time?”

“What’s- what’s a coconut?” Baekhyun asked as they stopped in their tracks, letting go of Chanyeol’s hand. “What’s that?”

Chanyeol scratched his neck. “I think- a fruit or a mammal, I don’t know, not gonna lie...” he trailed, not wanting to sound stupid. “I-”

“WE GOT BAD NEWS, MOTHERFUCKER!” Jungkook yelled, finally reaching up to them. “I think that’s, like, one of the most important meetings ever, man, you missed a lot-”

“Can you just give me a summary?” Chayeol asked. “I’m kind of tired and I want a nap.”

Jungkook looked at Baekhyun besides him. “Oh, Baekhyun… hey…”

Baekhyun shrugged. He didn’t know Jungkook that well. “Hey.”

“Is this about Yifan?” Chanyeol asked him. “Didn’t Shownu say he went with Junmyeon somewhere?”

“Yeah, the village's going crazy about that, but no, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” Jungkook rambled. “So you know Alpha Jaehyun? I think he’s being tried for treason-”

“He’s being tried for  _ what _ ?!” Chanyeol shrieked.

“-treason, and I think an unmated couple are expecting- yeah, Jaebum and Jinyoung!” He exclaimed. “And… uh…”

“Wait, treason for what?” Baekhyun asked, also confused. “I thought he was a good alpha.”

“He is! At least, I thought, I don’t know,” Jungkook admitted. “But… Chanyeol… they’re also pairing omegas.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Are they  _ really  _ that desperate?” he asked. “Who are they pairing, anyways?”

Jungkook gulped. “Someone named Si Cheng with Jaewoo,” he started saying, “and… uh…”

He didn’t remove his glance from Baekhyun, and even though he didn’t finish his sentence, Baekhyun suddenly understood.

“No, they wouldn’t dare,” Baekhyun whispered. “I’m not- we’re not even one of the desirable omegas, they wouldn’t-”

“Baekhyun, I’m- I’m really sorry,” Jungkook said softly. “We really tried, but Chanyeol, so many people were missing, it was hard to convinced them-”

“Wait, are you- are you saying they’re forcing  _ Baekhyun _ to mate someone?!” Chanyeol yelled. “They can’t-”

Baekhyun’s hands started shaking. “No, they wouldn’t- they wouldn’t-” he kept mumbling over and over.

“We’ll figure out something, I don’t know, can you lie about a relationship?” Jungkook suggested. “I think a lot of people are doing that, or maybe, I don’t know, that’s what Yifan was doing-”

“They can’t do that- wait, Baekhyun, where are you going?!” Chanyeol shouted, watching as Baekhyun darted away from them, running. “BAEKHYUN!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might end up making this story a bit longer, should be around 25 chapters tho
> 
> anyways i think i will make this series because there's still a lot of stuff i want to show about certain characters and their relationships and character development, so next time i update itll say part of a series. im trying to come up with a series name but Advcanced Omegaverse is pretty boring. anyways stay safe peeps!


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